Under the San Diego Sun

Excommunication of Truth

2011-10-12T16:11:00.000-07:00

In an online story published by The Wall Street Journal, titled “Twenty-first Century Excommunication,” and accompanied by a video interview of the reporter, Mollie Ziegler Hemingway, the recent property disputes of The Episcopal Church were grossly mischaracterized. I have served as the Episcopal bishop of San Diego for almost seven years, and in that capacity dealt with three congregations in which the ordained leaders and their followers attempted to leave the Episcopal Church with parish property. In these dealings, I was threatened with death and told I will go to hell by those who claim to love Jesus more than I do. Other colleagues have had similar experiences, from death threats to being spit at during church services. Ms. Hemingway would have you believe that the animus we have received is about scriptural interpretation, but make no mistake: this is about power.

To fully understand this situation, it is important to grasp the canonical (i.e. legal) structure of The Episcopal Church. Parishes are creations of the diocese in which they are situated, in some cases deriving their tax exempt status because they are an irrevocable part of the diocese. As a condition of ordination, clergy vow obedience to their bishop. Congregations begin as mission churches under the direct supervision and financial support of the bishop with property held by the diocese. When such a church becomes a parish, by vote of diocesan legislature, the congregation pledges to be subordinate to the constitution and canons of the Episcopal Church as well as the constitution and canons of the diocese. After becoming a parish, they may incorporate under the religious incorporation statutes of the state in which the congregation is situated. The diocese will usually transfer title to real property to the parish at that time to be held in trust for The Episcopal Church.

When individuals purported to alienate property which had be given to The Episcopal Church, I was bound by my fiduciary role as a bishop to prevent that from happening. Because The Episcopal Church, like so many others, follows state laws of incorporation, I had no alternative but to file suit in civil court to remedy the matter. This is analogous to a landlord finally going to civil court to gain relief from a non-paying renter or an owner using legal means to deal with a squatter. Thus, those leaving The Episcopal Church were catalysts of these law suits by breaking their solemn vows and by attempting to seize property they had no right to possess.

What is particularly regrettable about Ms. Hemingway’s piece is confusion about the relationship between The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion, which is easily remedied with a simple visit to the Anglican Communion’s official website, http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acp/index.cfm?year=2011&month=7&day=17 . There you will find every diocese of The Episcopal Church in their cycle of prayer; you will not find The Anglican Church in North American on that list. This is not to say they do not need our prayers. It is simply an indicator of who is an Anglican and who has merely appropriated the label. You will not find Missouri Synod Lutherans there either. Thus, The Episcopal Church remains a constituent member of the Anglican Communion. Despite Ms. Hemingway’s interpretations, our leader (called a primate), the Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, is a participant in the Meeting of Primates of the Anglican Communion; Robert Duncan, the leader of the breakaway Anglican Church in North America, is not. At our last House of Bishops meeting, a gathering of all bishops of The Episcopal Church, we were visited by the primates of Japan and Central Africa. Like an eclectic extended family, we have our differences, but we regularly gather together.

Ms. Hemingway suggests that The Episcopal Church is depriving these departing Episcopalians of a relationship to Anglican bishops and foreign dioceses. Oddly, these individuals claim to desire a relationship with a bishop of their own choosing. But bishops are those who by definition maintain order and oversight over the church. To put it in historical terms, this is rather like choosing to succeed from the nation when the current leadership is not to your liking. Thus, when the presiding bishop of The Episcopal Church urges her colleagues not to provide aid and comfort to those who would undermine our church, she has history on her side.

In the final analysis, no one has been excommunicated; rather some individuals have left our church. On their way out, they have tried to take what does not belong to them and, in an unimaginative attempt to cover their unseemly behavior, they have pointed the finger at their victim, The Episcopal Church. The Wall Street Journal and Ms. Hemingway have either been duped or shown a stunning lack of care in reporting. The only thing in this story that has been excommunicated is the truth.

On the Ecuadoran Frontier

2011-09-18T13:26:00.000-07:00

The House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church is meeting in Quito Ecuador, which has given us an opportunity to become more familar with the social issues of the region. For Ecuador, one of the vexing problems is dealing with refugees from Colombia. While the U.S. makes war on drugs, average Columbian citizans are caught between paramilitary groups and guerillas. As many flee for their lives, Ecuador finds itself dealing with the largest refugee population in Latin America.

The good news is that The Episcopal Church is working to make a difference. The Dioceses of Columbia and Ecuador Central are working together to provide transitional ministries to displaced persons. On Saturday, a group of bishops learned about this joint ministry, prayed together for this work on the border (see photo below), and gave financial support.

Those of us who live in the Episcopal Diocese of San Diego know something about borders and displacement. As a community that strives to transcend borders, we do well to be aware of what is happening on this border. This fledgling ministry deserves our prayers and support.

Episcopal News Service story:
http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79425_128774_ENG_HTM.htm

Something New Breaks Open

2011-04-20T15:01:00.000-07:00

Wednesday in Holy Week

In the midst of this Holy Week, we fully grapple with the enormity of the sacrifice of Jesus as he moved from a parade of palms to the pain of the passion. We are reminded once again that God is not remote and distant from us, but through Christ, enters our lives filled as they are with both sorrow and joy.

In the season of Easter that is upon us, we make an awesome claim that God who relentlessly pursues us in love will not abandon us. We are not left to sin and evil; we are not left to death. The miracle of the empty tomb is a promise of life. Between Good Friday and Easter, something happens to Jesus. Between Good Friday and Easter, something should likewise happen to us. We too are to be changed.

And so as the Easter light breaks, something new should break open in us. There is a new future for the world for which Christ died. The late William Sloan Coffin once said in a sermon,

Christ is risen to convert us, not from life to something more than life, but from something less than life to the possibility of full life itself. Christ’s resurrection promises to put love in our hearts, decent thoughts in our heads, and a little bit more iron in our spines.

In these Great Fifty Days of Easter may you live into our Easter love, have the mind that was in Christ Jesus, and be a courageous Church that dares to follow Jesus Christ in his life of fearless love for the world.

God’s blessing be upon you.

Bishop's Appeal 2011

2011-04-13T09:25:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,

Many of us enjoy God’s abundant blessings every day: families, friends, and food on the table. God calls us to share of our abundance with people in need. Together, we make possible ministries and programs that we could not as sole congregations. Our campus ministry at UCSD is growing with our support. Over 40 youth attended our diocesan convention. Happening and New Beginnings, renewal weekends for youth, are attracting record numbers. We are building up the church through our work in our companion diocese, the Diocese of El Salvador. These are just some ways we can do some good and share what we have.

Here are some concrete ways your donations make a difference:

$350,000 develops congregational growth and ministries
$120,000 supports redeveloping congregations throughout our diocese
$30,000 supports campus ministry at UCSD and SDSU, connecting young adults with the church at a critical time in their lives
$8,000 provides youth events for middle-school and high-school students, enriching their walk with Christ
$7,000 develops worldwide outreach mission programs in Kenya, Western Mexico and El Salvador

Please share in providing these vital ministries by making a gift to the Bishop’s Appeal. One hundred percent of your gift will support outreach in the area served by our diocese. You may donate today on our secure, convenient web site: edsd.org/bishopsappeal, or you may fill out the enclosed response envelope and mail your contribution. Your gift provides help and hope to people in need while it helps to expand our ministry in the world around us.

I am most grateful for your support – past, present, and future. Together, we are accomplishing greater things than any of us can do alone. May God bless you with renewed faith, abiding hope, and deep compassion for all God’s people.

Faithfully,
The Rt. Rev. James R. Mathes
Bishop

Please respond to this opportunity to do good and share what we have by the Day of Pentecost, Sunday, June 12. Make a difference all year long!

Land of the Rising Sun

2011-03-14T09:34:00.000-07:00

As we see the pictures of devastation wrought by earthquake, fire and tsunami, our hearts ache for the people of Japan. It remains to be seen the full impact of this catastrophe but it appears to be immense.

I ask you to hold the people of Japan as well as all others affected by this disaster in your prayers. Knowing that financial assistance will be needed I also ask you to make a gift to Episcopal Relief and Development so that our church can respond as Jesus would have us do — as good Samaritans.

Help Japan Here

Japan is a beautiful and resilient country whose gracious hospitality I have been privileged to enjoy. It is often referred to as the land of the rising sun. May God touch this part of God’s creation with a spirit of new life so that out of the ashes may rise new life and new hope.

March Message

2011-02-28T15:31:00.000-08:00

Dear Sisters and Brothers,

I want to begin by thanking you for your presence and participation at our 37th Diocesan Convention. I was amazed at the speed with which we attended to necessary business and the general spirit of the event. I am particularly grateful to Dean Richardson for his convention sermon and Diana Butler Bass for her keynote address on Friday and workshop on Saturday morning.

At this Convention, we did important work in moving forward our Strategic Planning process and tested a draft mission and vision statement:

Mission: The Episcopal Diocese of San Diego: a missionary community that dares to follow Jesus Christ in his life of fearless love for the world.

Vision: Undeterred by borders or barriers, we are pilgrims with Jesus in relentlessly searching for others to know, to befriend, and to invite them to Christ's Eucharistic table of reconciliation and sacrificial love.

The initial input from our table conversations on Saturday was positive albeit with helpful suggestions. One comment that caught my attention was that these statements of purpose and direction lacked specificity. It was with that rumbling in my mind that I received an email from Simon Mainwaring, rector of St. Andrew's with the subject head, "so you know people do listen to your address," sharing with me his blog entry for Valentine's Day.

Simon tells his response to our vision statement and "taking the Church beyond the border" in his blog, "Simon Mainwaring PB." Simon tells of his experience in being vulnerable by taking a handful of Valentine cards and walking the streets of Pacific Beach greeting absolute strangers and wishing them a Happy Valentine's Day. Thank you Simon, for helping me respond to the critique that our Mission and Vision are without specifics.

The specifics of Mission and Vision will in the end be found in the intersecting of the Holy Spirit, our imagination and the liminal places that are a whole host of borders around us.

In a world where buildings fall in earthquakes, congressional representatives become targets for assassination, and dictators cling to power with bullets and blood, we can feel powerless and fearful. To follow Jesus is to dare. To follow Jesus is to be fearless. To follow Jesus is to study our spiritual and cultural geography so that we can find that threshold where God's mission happens, that place of borders, imagination and inspiration.

Blessings to you as we enter this season of wilderness wanderings on the way to our true home.

The Bishop's Address: Signposts Along the Way

2011-02-28T15:28:00.000-08:00

37th Convention of the Diocese of San Diego

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.

La gracia y paz de Dios nuestro Padre y Señor Jesucristo a todos ustedes.

As some of you know, my hobby is wood working. It is what I do to restore myself a bit and exercise my creative side. Like all woodworkers, sometimes the only discernable byproduct of my time in the shop is saw dust. Yet from time to time, I am asked to put that avocation in service of the church. And so, when Hannah Wilder told me that we needed sign posts for our convention signs, I thought of that as a way I could contribute to the cause.

So, I put my saw, router, drill and socket wrench to work and made a few sign posts for this convention. If you successfully made your way to the registration table or the restroom, you are welcome.

However, as I thought about my modest project of building stands for signs, it occurred to me that this is perhaps an apt analogy for our ministry in this diocese. For this project was collaboration. Greg Tuttle designed and ordered the signs, I built the stands, and others moved them here and placed them where they would be the most helpful.

In our life together, we each do different tasks and we hope that the combined efforts are signs—messages of God—written or spoken in words or in deeds. We receive such signs and messages as the fruits of prayer, pondering, conversations, and discernment—the sort of work in which we have just been engaged at our tables. Just like the team effort that gave us our convention signs, our words and actions as the Church are humble efforts to frame God’s message in time and place together. “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.” I Cor. 3:1

Bishops and really the whole people of God are crafters of these messages of “the faith once delivered.” The question that is the theme of this convention, “What is God up to?” is a provocative question that assumes that God has a dream for God’s creation, and that in pursuit of that dream God is purposeful and active in the world. And because this is who God is, theologians for centuries have spoken of God’s mission, the missio Dei. And Holy Scripture and the early church mothers and fathers teach us the mission of God is one of restoration and reconciliation. Think of the vision of the peaceable kingdom in Isaiah: “The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid…and a little child shall lead them.” Isaiah 11: 6 Or consider the picture painted in the Revelation to John of “the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God …the home of God is amongmortals.” The Revelation 21:2

Yes, from Isaiah through John at Patmos, our forebearers glimpsed God’s dream and painted a poetic picture of hope. God’s relentless love seeks us out even still. God has a mission and God has a church to serve that mission. And this Episcopal Diocese of San Diego has a particular place in that mission. To be such a church and diocese, we are to claim our part in the Mission of God. That is why we ask the question, “What is God up to?”

II.

Believing in a God who acts, our spiritual ancestors have asked this question in the midst of a divided sea, in Babylonian captivity, a garden of betrayal, at the foot of a cross and before an empty tomb. And what they saw and what they testified to was a God who acts to save. Frederick Buechner offered this definition of God’s mission when challenged to sum up God’s story and

God’s mission in three sentences:

God created the world.

The world became a damn mess.

God did not give up on the world.

And so, God remains active—relentlessly pursuing a mission of restoration and hope. And as the church, we are called to join in that mission and to claim that hope.

My friend and colleague, Greg Rickel, Bishop of Olympia, suggested to his convention that “hope without a plan is denial.” Hope without a plan leads to bickering in the wilderness. It freezes disciples in fear behind closed doors. It leads to arguments about whose in and whose out, who is Jew and who is Gentile. But through God’s initiative and with a discerning heart, the people of God come together and act. And it is in that spirit, that we on this day look out and plan a future for this community of faith, this diocese that we believe that God is already making a reality.

Mike Collier and Paige Blair have spent a bit of time giving you a glimpse of what future by sharing with you a preamble to a Strategic Plan as well as a draft statement of mission and vision. In my ordination vows as bishop, I was asked to encourage and support you, to “nourish [you] from the riches of God’s grace.” These words of mission and vision are loaded with God’s grace.

And as I prepare to move deeply into these words and my sense of their power for all of us, I want to pause and open up my heart a bit. What I want you to know is this: I come to this moment and time in our common life with an incredibly thankful heart, first and perhaps foremost for the privilege of ministering with you in this grace-filled vocation of bishop. I am thus overwhelmingly thankful for all of you: for the clergy who day in and day out provide the pastoral and sacramental ministry of Christ and I am thankful for all of the laity who are the primary ministers of the Gospel. I am thankful for the Body of Christ that we are in this place and in this time.

I would be remiss if I did not also express abundant thanks for those with whom I work most closely, the staff of the Office of the Bishop. Bobbi, Isabel, Howard, Hannah, Julie, Suzi, and Rosa serve us with a dedication and diligence that is an immense gift to us all. They see their work as ministry for and with you. To all of you, I hold up a sign of thankfulness.

III.

To begin with thanksgiving is always a fruitful posture from which to set out on anew. That is why The General Thanksgiving comes towards the end of Morning Prayer so that the petitioner begins the day with a grateful heart. And so it is with a grateful heart that I take up these words of mission and vision. Like my sign building in preparation for this convention, this vision casting is a collaborative work. The Strategic Planning Committee and their co-chairs have done great work. We have been blessed by our facilitator, Allan Dorsey.

Part of our work together has been to reflect on our history and where we are as a diocesan community. Permit me to likewise be a bit reflective in my own preface to visioning. For in reality, if you don’t know where you are on the map it is hard to fully interpret the signs.

It is now six years since I followed different signs to travel from the Midwest to this community. In those six years, we have gone from being divided to united. We have moved from being financially over-extended to a state of reasonable stability. We have become more connected and more mission-oriented. And I sense we have become less distracted and rediscovered our passion for Jesus and his way. It feels to me that we are at a place where we can focus our energies on building up the church—for mission.

If we were still reactive and dealing with overwhelming crises, then it would be difficult to discern and live into a more mission driven future. But we are in a different place today. And so, we look ahead and articulate and test what we pray will be our future path. If you detected my language and proverbial fingerprints in the preamble, mission, and vision statements that Mike and Paige shared with you, then you would be correct. Those words are not mere words to me. They come from the core of my being which I pray are very close to where God would have us be in this diocese in this time.

We begin with mission because as a community baptized into the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we are to be a missional community. As Swiss theologian Emil Brunner said, “The Church exists by mission as fire exists by burning."1 With hearts brim full with gratitude and love, we extravagantly share God’s love. It is hard wood of the cross love. It is sacrificial. It asks not what the church offers us, but rather what we are privileged to give up to become more a part of Christ in the world. And thus our mission statement,

The Episcopal Diocese of San Diego: a missionary community that dares to follow Jesus Christ in his life of fearless love for the world.

This is who we are supposed to be. We are missional—not our mission but God’s we are followers of Jesus who pours out his life in love—fearless, self-giving, love.

And through its power, this mission statement, says also what we are not. We are not simply casual Christians. Kenda Creasy Dean in her book, Almost Christian, contends that there is a pervasive faith being peddled in our churches which as the title of her book suggests is “almost Christian.” Those who embrace this way of being a Christian acknowledge a God who is not particularly active in our lives and simply wants us to be good and happy. She suggests that we have lost our “missional imagination” through self-focused spiritualities. She urges a refocusing on what is elemental about being a Christian, a Jesus follower. Note how her words challenge us to be focused and to look ahead to our distinctive vision in this diocese:

If the God of Jesus Christ is a missionary God who crosses every boundary—life and death and space and time—to win us, then following Jesus is bound to be anything but convenient.2

Speaking the truth in love, I sometimes find myself in church communities where comfort and convenience is a standard that is commingled following a low-cost, low-benefit following of Jesus. You are the best judge in determining the degree to which this may apply to your congregation. Suffice it to say that I am belaboring this because I believe that we need to dare to follow Jesus however rough the terrain may become. We need to grapple with means to be “sealed by the Holy Spirit in baptism and marked as Christ’s own for ever,” not to make us nice or happy but to beckon us to join with Christ on the only road to the Kingdom which is the way of the cross.

I have already framed this mission in terms of time and place. This is not accidental. We are an incarnational people. As followers of Jesus, we believe that our bodies, our time and place are the stuff of holiness. Creation is not simply to be escaped or endured but perfected by the Incarnation of God in Christ. Through our baptism, we join in that incarnational reality. We embody Jesus Christ. Paul had it right when he described the church as the Body of Christ. And so our vision of our life as the body has particularity in this time and this place. It is for this reason that we articulate the vision of our diocese is in the particularity of place and time as a working body. Our vision has trajectory; it is charged with action and, I might add, the level of risk that is always found in going journey:

Undeterred by borders or barriers, we are pilgrims with Jesus in relentlessly searching for others to know, to befriend, and to invite them to Christ’s Eucharistic table of reconciliation and sacrificial love.

A critical reality of our geographic location is that it is a place of borders. Again, rooted in the Incarnation, this should not surprise us. After all, the Incarnation is God’s great border crossing from divine to human. In an essay reflecting on the human journey in a place of borders, Fr. Daniel Groody suggests that as we imitate the migrating God in Jesus Christ, we do the fundamental mission of reconciliation, to cross the human-human divide just as God crosses the divine-human divide.3 These liminal places are like our burning bushes where we glimpse the Holy; they are places where God’s mission is begging to be lived out. For us, one such place is obvious: the international border. In naming this reality we are invited to grapple with the complexity of what it means to be a border diocese, where the very issues of immigration, migrant workers, and undocumented travelers cause pain and division. We cannot be truly followers of Jesus Christ if we assume that grappling with such vexing issues is simply too hard, uncomfortable, or divisive.

Greed, racism, and xenophobia—all rooted in fear and misunderstanding—are the real barriers for which the fences along the international border are simply a physical manifestation. Because Jesus is always out ahead, crossing borders (remember lepers, the woman at the well, tax collectors), we too must follow him and transcend these limits—pushing through to the other side:

The barrier between faiths which breeds so much misunderstanding, fear, and even hate
The barrier between those who are serving or have served in the military and those who are the beneficiaries of that service
The barrier between the obscenely rich and those in abject poverty

When we see a border of separation, we should think mission! The French Jesuit Michel de Certeau echoes this presupposition,

Within the Christian experience, the boundary or limit is a place for action… Boundaries are the place of the Christian work, and their displacements are the result of this work.4

I would challenge you to try and define a signal focal point of Christian mission that does not have a border to be crossed as a basic characteristic. Our vision is then a sign that calls us to be undeterred in a tireless search for coming to know and be known by the stranger, the other. As the Archbishop of Canterbury has said, “The slogan of the church's life is “not without the other.”5 We live with an ever-present uneasiness that this Body is not complete and so we relentlessly seek the other as if looking for our lost selves, because we are.

IV.

The sacramental sign of both mission and vision in the particularity of this time and this place—surely our time and place and for that matter any time and any place—is the Eucharist. It is both and. Whenever we come together in remembrance of Jesus Christ, we are united in a catholicity that transcends congregation, diocese, the Episcopal Church, and binds us to the universal body. This is a miracle glimpsed. It is a present reality and not yet.

Philip Sheldrake, vice-principal at Sarum College, Salisbury profoundly states this true when we writes,

To live eucharistically as a way of ‘practicing everyday life’ involves an act of commitment… to convert their time and place into a laboratory of ultimate hope. 6

A Eucharistic practice that leads to a hope fulfilling mission is what we pray in one of our own Eucharistic Prayers, “Open our eyes to see your hand at work in the world about us.”7 Mission of God! “Deliver us from the presumption of coming to this Table for solace only and not for strength; for pardon only and not for renewal.”8 Practicing in the laboratory of hope! And this action-oriented, table-centered laboratory is unbounded. For the Eucharistic life is thankful cohabitation with God in Christ and all who come to the table. Again, to quote Sheldrake,

To celebrate the Eucharist also commits people, even more radically, to cross the boundaries of fear, of prejudiced and injustice in a prophetic embracing of other people, without exception...10

This is where our heart must be. This is the place from which our mission streams.

As clergy serving in congregations, as lay leaders, as bishop, we can be overwhelmed by institutional worries. We will always be grappling with tough financial issues, with division, and such. While we should be attentive to these concerns, we must not allow them to either preoccupy us or distract us. If we do, we will be taken off track and look for cheap and expedient solutions. We will deal with mere symptoms and not the root problem, which in this case I believe in my bones is a failure to bet our whole lives on following Jesus in all his demands.

We will be tempted to either become like an entertainment church with edge music and perhaps a rigid proscriptive dogma that offers simple answers to perplexing questions, or we will offer a tepid, low demand “almost” Christian faith in hopes that we gain a few more pew sitters or pledgers. The first option is too limiting; the second is faithless.

Today, we have again been feed in the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. We have listened to the Holy Scriptures and said our prayers. Our mission and vision is to live as followers of Jesus. We are called to give all. If we are thus faithful, the temporal and institutional matters, while ever present, will be taken care of. If we are thus faithful, we will in this time and this place be Christ to those who do not know Christ.

This remains an extraordinary age of mission. God’s mission has a church. We should be undeterred by borders and boundaries, but seek them out as the place for us to do our Church craft. And so dare to be fearless followers of Jesus; we dare to be a Eucharistic people of hope.

You may know the story of two intrepid Irish boys who used to spend their days exploring the rolling countryside. They journeyed over rivers and through valleys, past farms and flocks. When they got hungry, they’d help themselves to what God offered them through the unwitting generosity of local farmers.

One day, the boys came upon a high wall that guarded an orchard and blocking their path. It seemed impassable. For a moment, they considered turning back and ending their journey. Then, in a flash of unspoken agreement, they took their caps off their heads and flung them over the impassable wall. Now they had no choice but to continue.11

Well, we are at a place of decision. For myself, I guess that I have thrown my miter over the wall. Dear Ones, will you toss your caps over as well? Will you take the risks and rewards of living into this mission and vision. Undeterred, let us throw our proverbial caps over the walls that separate us from those whom we should come know. God is up to something in the Episcopal Diocese of San Diego. Let us join with God in God’s daring mission of love.

And I now end where I began, as your grateful carpenter bishop, who loves you more than you will ever know.

May God richly bless you and protect you in this dangerous and eternally graced vocation.

Footnotes:

1 Emil Brunner, source unknown

2Kenda Creasy Dean, Almost Christian: What the Faith of Our Teenagers is Telling the American Church, Oxford University Press, 2010, p. 37.

3Daniel G. Groody, C.S.C., “Dying to Live: Theology, Migration, and the Human Journey, Reflections, Yale Divinity School, Fal 2008, p. 33.

4Michel De Certeuau, “How is Christianity Thinkable Today?”, p. 151.

5Rowan Williams, Tokens of Trust: An introduction to Christian belief, Canterbury Press, Norwich, 2007, p. 106.

6Philip Sheldrake, Spaces for the Sacred: Place, Memory, and Identity, The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001, p. 79.

7The Book of Common Prayer, p. 372.

8Ibid.

9Sheldrake, p. 79.

10Stories for Writers and Speakers, http://storiesforspeakers.blogspot.com/2010/09/flinging-your-hat-over-wall.html

America's Second Finest

2010-11-19T09:31:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago a poll was released that suggested that San Diego is NOT America’s Finest City. Actually, we came in second. We were beat out once again by the Big Apple.

However, there is a curious footnote to this Silver Medal performance. New York, the most desirable place to live, is also…wait for it…wait for it…is the number one LEAST desirable place to live! As it turns out, this scientific survey was simply asking people where they most wanted to live and where they most don’t want to live. So in my mind you can’t be the best and the worst and win.

So let’s look at some of the raw data*:

Mean travel time to work:
New York = 39.4 minutes; San Diego = 22.6 minutes

Acreage of major outdoor space:
New York's Central Park = 843; San Diego's Balboa Park = 1200

Average temperature in January:
New York = 39 degrees; San Diego = 66 degrees

Okay I have to admit that I envy their public transportation system and lament our dependence on the car. And goodness know, the Yankees could let us have just one of those 27 World Series championships or the Giants one of those three Super Bowl wins.

But when all is said and done, we have some things in San Diego that you can find no where else: slow mo skating down the pier in Pacific Beach, watching the ships pass by Cabrillo Point, more evening stars, great sunsets, and if we are lucky some of those sunsets will include a green flash.

So for me it remains America’s finest city. I will hang in there with the Padres and the Chargers. I will continue to give thanks for all my neighbors.

*from the October 22, 2010 issue of the San Diego Union Tribune

Leadership in a Time of Fear

2010-11-05T16:14:00.000-07:00

Two years ago our nation went to the polls and voted for change. On Tuesday, November 2nd, we seemingly did the same thing in reverse. Two years ago, we said to a group of folks, "have a go at it." Tuesday we said that we were going to let others have a try.

I actually think that people of all political persuasions should be deeply concerned about this fickle, and I would add, fearful electorate. Two years, 24 months, 104 weeks, 730 day is not enough time to make a judgment about the quality of leadership. Indeed, suggesting that it is causes leaders to settle for band aids and quick fixes rather than long-term transformational changes.

I sense the same thing happening in our churches. I will often be with a congregation that is highly anxious about their future. In many cases, the people are dealing with significant problems that developed over a long period of time, sometimes decades—just like our elected leaders. These anxious congregants or vestry members want the problem fixed quickly. Often, their perceived quick fix is the new priest. I find myself offering a bit of wisdom that I inherited. If it took some many years to get into this mess, then feel free to take the same amount of time fixing it.

It is my conviction that we are addicted to the quick fix in our political life, our social life, and our religious life. Fearful, we adulate emerging leaders, blame them, and then attack them. In both our civic life and our church life, we have serious problems to solve. When Britain faced the Nazi menace, the king called on Churchill to form a government. It was, however, a coalition government. I wonder if we treated these times of great economic travail as a similar time and committed to coalition, we might actually solve problems.

What if the president had a cabinet that truly looked like America, including Republican, Democrat, and neither? What if we had coalitions of theological diversity actually come together to plan a missional future? We actually may move our social order and religious order to a completely new level. Maybe this is how to lead in a time of fear.

Camping and Kids

2010-10-20T10:20:00.000-07:00

Last week, I had the opportunity to participate in the National Council meeting for Episcopal Camps and Conference Centers (ECCC): www.episcopalccc.org. Our own Peter Bergstrom, executive director of Camp Stevens, also serves as the executive director of ECCC. Yes, he is a very busy man!

The Council meeting was a particular gift for me for two reasons. First, I learned a great deal more about the richness of our Episcopal Camps and Conference Centers which span from Hawaii to Puerto Rico to Olympia to Maine. Secondly, the council was address by Peg Smith, Executive Director of the American Camp Association. Peg comes to her work from a background in early childhood development. In her presentation, she hooked me by suggesting that the great benefit of the camping experience is to help kids be kids. Too many kids in our communities and churches have stolen childhoods through poverty, divorce, unreasonably high expectations, and busyness. The spiritual costs from this curtailed childhood are high.

Camp Stevens is a treasure for childhood in our diocese. In the woods and meadows, around campfires and on ropes courses, kids can be kids. And all of us can rediscover the rejuvenative quality of play.

Come to Julian; Come to Camp Stevens: www.campstevens.org

Human Life Well-lived in Common

2010-10-18T09:09:00.000-07:00

Over the last two weeks, business, civic, and political leaders have been meeting in Tijuana in a conference, Innovadora, aimed at building a hopeful and collaborative future for our regions, a future that transcends the international border that separates Tijuana from San Diego. On this side of the border, we are keenly aware of our own critical needs. Nevertheless, it is surprising to no one that Tijuana is in dire straits. Indeed, the future of these two cities are inextricably connected—thus, the international nature of the conference.

The conference planners focused on four areas: infrastructure, human capital, public safety, and cross border ties. These issues were framed in business and economic terms. However, it is good to remember that the word, "economy," is the word, "housekeeping." In reality, four focal issues of Innovadora are issues of housekeeping for the human family sharing hearth and home along a maritime desert coast. These issues are theological issues to which the Church is called to be a player.

Rowan Williams rightly suggests centering these matters of economy in his new work, Crisis and Recovery: Ethics, Economics, and Justice:

“…the question of how we think about shared wellbeing is the central one before us. Theology does not solve specific economic questions (any more than it solves specific political or scientific ones); but what it offers is a robust definition of what human wellbeing looks like and what the rationale is for human life well-lived in common.”

I am a bit haunted by the word that dangles at the end of that quote, "common." With a guarded border, there is no sense of the commons—no common space, no common economy. In our diocese, we are working more and more with partners at Dorcas House in Tijuana and with the Diocese of Western Mexico.

Maybe, just maybe, our contribution will be in creating a sense of life lived in common. Could it be that these two cities could increasingly be seen as one?

Nullification Revisited

2010-10-14T12:48:00.000-07:00

The Rt. Rev. Mark Lawrence wrote the essay, “A Conservationist among Lumberjacks,” in The Living Church, published online on October 1, 2010, which attempts to paint the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina as a protector of the Constitution of the Episcopal Church.

It is true that there are no new plots.

What Bishop Lawrence postulates is simply a twenty-first century reprisal of the 1828 nullification crisis in which the state of South Carolina attempted to nullify federal tariffs.

Bishop Lawrence feigns great sorrow at the changing landscape of the Episcopal Church. He writes, “I have grown sad from walking among the stumps of what was once a noble old-growth Episcopalian grove in the forest of Catholic Christianity.” Donning the mantel of ecclesial conservationist, Bishop Lawrence even quotes environmentalist, Aldo Leopold, “a conservationist is one who is humbly aware that with each stroke [of the ax] he is writing his signature on the face of his land.” The bishop adds, “far too many leaders in our church have never learned this lesson.” Indeed.

All of this is prelude to his main premise that the presiding bishop is threatening the polity of the Episcopal Church. He wants you to believe that the threat is manifested in three ways: because her chancellor has retained a South Carolina attorney to represent the wider Episcopal Church’s interests should they diverge from the Diocese of South Carolina’s interests; through the Title IV revisions from the 2009 General Convention; and by the manner in which the House of Bishops has dealt with bishops who have left the Episcopal Church.

If Bishop Lawrence were simply presenting these thoughts to spur debate about his concern regarding the polity of the Episcopal Church and his perceptions of threats to the same, I could imagine he and I having a lively conversation, perhaps when we next meet at House of Bishops. He might even convince me to support changes in the canons to preserve our polity. However I suspect that that is not what Bishop Lawrence is after. His essay is rather an attempt to justify resolutions being considered this weekend at the Convention of the Diocese of South Carolina, which among other things, claims “sovereignty” of diocese. He tips his hand in his essay when he claims that “the presiding bishop and her unelected chancellor [are] intruding into diocesan independence.”

An Episcopal diocese is no more independent of the Episcopal Church than a state is independent of the federal government. This is nothing short of an attempt to craft ecclesiastical nullification. And of late, we have had too much practice in that with four other dioceses claiming nullification on the road to secession.

Bishop Lawrence’s thinking is problematic.

First, there is no real threat from the presiding bishop unless you attempt secession, in which case she will simply do her job of preserving the diocese from those who choose to abandon it.

The Title IV revisions, while not perfect, are an effort to shift from a disciplinary model to a pastoral model of dealing with clergy conduct issues. There is no external threat to a diocese from the presiding bishop. In fact, due process is enhanced. I would invite Bishop Lawrence and the Diocese of South Carolina to join the wider Episcopal Church in living with these canonical changes and to offer changes at future General Conventions. This is the right way to deal with perceived imperfections.

And it is rather silly to raise procedural objections to Bob Duncan’s deposition. While I believe we followed our canonical procedures properly, Duncan’s previously prepared departure to the Southern Cone immediately acted upon and announced moments after his deposition made it clear that the House made the appropriate decision.

Indeed, what’s the complaint? Bob Duncan and the House of Bishops were in perfect agreement: he was no longer a bishop in the Episcopal Church. The issue for Duncan was that his deposition gravely weakened his flimsy legal position relative to his compliance with an out of court settlement relating to Episcopal Church property. As Bishop Lawrence and the Diocese of South Carolina prepare to move forward with their own canonical changes, I fear they may be playing a similar game.

Bishop Lawrence: be at peace. Your colleagues in our House of Bishops support you in leading the Diocese of South Carolina consonant with its particular theological perspective. We grieve with you those who have left the Episcopal Church. But know this -- no one cut them out. They were not the victims of lumberjacks; they uprooted themselves. We pray that you will not do the same. It would be a regrettable repeat of history. In the end, we will wait for your next move. Please don’t fire on Fort Sumter.

Homeless in San Diego

2010-10-11T12:05:00.000-07:00

In September, a survey was taken of San Diego's homeless population. 738 individuals were surveyed. As reported in the San Diego Union Tribune (October 3, 2010), 30 percent said that they get money from recycling bottles and cans, 22 percent receive Social Security benefits, 22 percent get money from panhandling, and 18 percent receive food stamps.

A closer look at this population tells a more personal story. 80 percent have been homeless for more than a year.

Health issues are particularly vexing: 76 percent have at least one mental health issue. 55 percent have no health insurance and 37 percent have serious and potentially life-threatening health conditions. 36 percent have been violently attacked since becoming homeless and 25 percent have served our country in the military.

In our Baptismal Covenant, we promise to "seek and serve Christ in all persons loving our neighbors as ourselves."

Let me suggest that we have three things that we can do to keep this vow relative to our homeless brothers and sisters.

First, we can advocate for tax dollars to care for this population, whether temporarily homeless, homeless because of mental illness or substance abuse, or a veteran scarred by war. We need to work to change a system which discards those who are broken.

Second, we need to personally act. As a colleague of mine once said, "Always give alms." So say "hello" to the homeless you meet and if they have a cup for an offering, make an investment in human dignity.

And finally, participate in the work of our Church in collectively making a difference. You can do this by giving to Episcopal Community Services (ECS). Our Friend-to-Friend Clubhouse is a program designed to help the homeless of San Diego.

You can check out this award winning program at: http://www.ecscalifornia.org/programs/friend_to_friend.html.

Push for More, Not Less

2010-10-04T16:06:00.000-07:00

I just read that Governor Schwarzenegger and the state legislature have agreed to a deal that will close the 19 billion dollar budget gap. Details have not yet been revealed. 19 billion! That is a stunning number. To get it down to a reasonable size, that is $554 per California resident. It is less than $1.50 per day for each resident.

I point this out because my neighborhood is peppered with signs that say, “No on D,” a referendum to increase the sales tax in San Diego. After all, our city is similarly in a financial crunch. But let me stay with the big picture. Our state economy is 1.85 trillion dollars. We have more fortune 500 headquarters than any other state except Texas, which has the same number. Truth be told: there is plenty of wealth in California to pay the state’s current bills.

To end our financial crisis, however, we must recover a sense of the common good. We must decide that our neighbor’s welfare is just as important as our own. In fact our own welfare is inextricably connected to our neighbor's.

Another truth: we are not paying our own way. We are investing in a society that relies too much on the contributions of the previous generations. And we don’t invest enough to assuage the pain and suffering of those on the margins of society. We don’t invest enough in education and welfare programs.

My bet is that when the governor and the legislature reveal the details of their budget deal, they will have balanced the budget at the expense of those least likely to vote and to be heard from: the poor, the homeless, the mentally ill.

Here is what I am going to do. I am going to vote in favor of every tax increase that I can so that there will be more. I am writing my representatives to continue to push for more, not less, for those on the edge of making it—even if I have to pay more.

This is how we strive for justice and peace and respect the dignity of every human being—at least this day in California.

Pastoral Letter from House of Bishops

2010-09-21T18:09:00.000-07:00

House of Bishops issues Pastoral Letter along with a Theological Resource:

“The Nation and the Common Good: Reflections on Immigration Reform”

[September 21, 2010] The House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church, meeting in Phoenix, Arizona, has issued the following Pastoral Letter and Theological Reflection: “The Nation and the Common Good: Reflections on Immigration Reform.”

A Pastoral Letter from the House of Bishops

Phoenix, Arizona, September 21, 2010

There shall be for you and the resident alien a single statute, a perpetual statute throughout your generations; you and the alien shall be alike before the Lord. You and the alien who resides with you shall have the same law and the same ordinance (Numbers 15:15-16).

So [Christ] came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near; for through him both of us have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God (Ephesians 2:17-19).

Dear People of God,

Throughout our meeting in Phoenix, Arizona, we have reflected on the immigration crisis facing our host state, the United States, and all nations globally. A number of us visited the United States-Mexico border and saw first hand the many troubling and complex issues that face migrants, immigrants, the border patrol, local ranchers, and Christian communities seeking to minister to all of these groups. We are also mindful that similar border issues confront other nations represented in The Episcopal Church, especially countries in Europe, the Dominican Republic and Haiti, and Colombia and Ecuador.

Holy Scripture teaches us that all human beings are made in the image of God, and that Jesus Christ gave his life for all people. Furthermore, both the Old and New Testaments declare the importance of hospitality to resident alien and strangers, a hospitality that rests on our common humanity. All human beings are therefore deserving of dignity and respect, as we affirm in our Baptismal Covenant (Book of Common Prayer, p.305). So our gracious welcome of immigrants, documented or undocumented, is a reflection of God’s grace poured out on us and on all. In this light:

(1) Ours is a migratory world in which many people move across borders to escape poverty, hunger, injustice and violence. We categorically reject efforts to criminalize undocumented migrants and immigrants, and deplore the separation of families and the unnecessary incarceration of undocumented workers. Since, as we are convinced, it is natural to seek gainful employment to sustain oneself and one’s family, we cannot agree that the efforts of undocumented workers to feed and shelter their households through honest labor are criminal.

(2) We profess that inhumane policies directed against undocumented persons (raids, separation of families, denial of health services) are intolerable on religious and humanitarian grounds, as is attested by the consensus of a wide range of religious bodies on this matter.

(3) We call on the government of the United States and all governments to create fair and humane immigration policies that honor the dignity of people on all sides of this issue. In the United States, we seek a reasonable path to citizenship for undocumented workers; a plan to reunite families; and a viable system for receiving temporary or seasonal guest-workers, with clearly identified points of entry. These measures would free the United States border patrol to concentrate its efforts on the apprehension of drug traffickers, terrorists, and other criminals, and not on ordinary people who are simply seeking a better life for themselves and their children.

(4) We acknowledge the duty of governments to protect their people, including the securing of borders. The church has always respected this duty, which is grounded in government’s God-given duty to protect innocent people and punish wrongdoers (Romans 13:1-7; 1 Peter 2:13-17).

(5) We recognize that racism and bigotry impact debates over migration and immigration. The Episcopal Church is committed to the eradication of all forms of racism, and decries the use of racial profiling in the arrest of persons suspected of being undocumented.

(6) We confess our own complicit sinfulness as people who benefit from the labor of undocumented workers without recognizing our responsibility to them. We passively tolerate an economic and political system that accepts this labor from millions of undocumented workers, and which has received approximately $520 billion in social security revenue from them--revenue from which they will never benefit. Yet at the same time we treat them as a threat.

(7) We do not discount the concerns of our fellow citizens regarding the danger uncontrolled immigration poses to our safety and economic well-being. We insist, however, that these concerns be approached within the broader context of a national commitment and covenant to inclusion and fellowship across all lines for the sake of the common good.

(8) We take seriously our commitment to and responsibility for our fellow citizens, as we strive to face the spiritual, moral and economic challenges of life in all sixteen nations represented in The Episcopal Church. We call on our fellow citizens to remember that the good of a nation lies beyond its own self-interest, toward a vision of a humanity restored in Jesus Christ, for in him “you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ” (Ephesians 2:13).

(9) We offer for additional study a theological resource, “The Nation and the Common Good: Reflections on Immigration Reform.”

God’s grace be with us all.

________________________________________________________________________

“The Nation and the Common Good:

Reflections on Immigration Reform”

A Theological Resource on Migration and Immigration

From the House of Bishops of The Episcopal Church

Phoenix, Arizona

September 21, 2010

“The great crisis among us is the crisis of ‘the common good,’ the sense of community solidarity that binds all in a common destiny – haves and have-nots, the rich and the poor. We face a crisis about the common good because there are powerful forces at work among us to resist the common good, to violate community solidarity, and to deny a common destiny. Mature people, at their best, are people who are committed to the common good that reaches beyond private interests, transcends sectarian commitments, and offers human solidarity."

-Walter Brueggemann, Journey to the Common Good

Introduction

The church was born out of the passionate conviction of a growing number of people that, united with the crucified and risen Jesus in baptism, and empowered by the same Spirit that empowered him in his humanity, they could welcome one another, and everyone else, just the way Jesus did. They rightly discerned the social critique embedded in Jesus’ own total availability to others, and, beginning with the admission of the Gentiles and the blurring of distinctions between slave and free, rich and poor, they organized themselves as a community geared to transform Jesus’ personal example into a collective way of life that could challenge prevailing cultural and social norms. This has practical consequences for our approach to immigration reform as followers of Jesus, since it shifts the focus away from advocacy to formation, from the voting booth to our prayer life. What are the spiritual and moral practices we must maintain, recover, develop and take up so that we, as Episcopalians, can witness responsibly on behalf of the undocumented, can acknowledge our own complicity in injustice, and can recognize our own obligation to fellow citizens who fear that a more open immigration policy spells increasing danger and economic loss for themselves?

We have been asking these questions as we meet in Phoenix, Arizona, the epicenter of national debate over immigration reform. We acknowledge with gratitude the many contributions to this debate that have recently been made by various Christian, Jewish and Muslim bodies (see Appendix A). We are also grateful for the work already done by General Conventions of The Episcopal Church in this area (see Appendix B).

As bishops of a church deeply formed by the idea of nationhood, we are painfully aware of the many ways in which concern for national identity can stereotype and exclude the outsider. We are also aware, however, of the spiritual value of national identity when it is informed by Gods’ love for all nations and peoples, and seeks, within its own borders, to emulate that love.

The Problem of Nationalism

We acknowledge that the modern nation state is itself in flux and may be on the wane under the pressures of globalization, increasing ethnocentricity, and the vast number of human beings who are effectively stateless due to ever increasing migration. We also give thanks for the fact that The Episcopal Church is no longer constituted as a strictly “national” church, but comprises a number of dioceses and judicatories well beyond the geographical boundaries of the United States of America.

This is not to deny the expansionist nationalism that produced this rich diversity. In the early twentieth century, the Episcopal Church extended its reach beyond the borders of the United States wherever the United States asserted its control. Historic missions of The Episcopal Church in such “extra-continental missionary districts” as the Philippines, Cuba, Panama, and Haiti coincided with United States occupation of those countries. Nationalism has thus been a potent force in the missionary work of the Episcopal Church as we sought to support the exportation of American democracy and, at the same time, to export the richness of Anglican tradition in our foreign missions. We rejoice that today many of the historic missions of The Episcopal Church are now self-governing Anglican churches in their own right, or are taking significant steps in that direction.

We therefore approach the question of immigration reform aware that our own history as a national church is a double-edged sword. We are deeply bound up with the American story, and therefore have a quintessentially American perspective to bring to the present crisis. At the same time, the very fact that we are now a multi-national church bears witness to our past complicity in imperialist policies, which even now may raise questions about where we are coming from in the debate over immigration reform. Such questions are sure to arise, inasmuch as we will argue that immigration reform must take into consideration not only the human rights of undocumented immigrants, but also our obligation to fellow citizens who wish to stem the flow of illegal immigration. That said, we turn to the matter at hand.

Resident Aliens: Then and Now

Proponents of immigration reform frequently cite Leviticus 19:33-34 as representing Biblical teaching regarding the resident alien: “When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt; I am the Lord your God” (NRSV). Here we are dealing with a passage which seems to deal explicitly and specifically with immigrants. The resident alien (Hebrew: ger) refers specifically to someone residing in Israel who was not born there, and the term translated here (probably anachronistically) as “citizen” (Hebrew: ezrach) means, literally, someone who was born there. But we must not be too quick to establish an easy correlation between this command and our present experience. Ancient Israel was, for the most part, an ethnic entity, for which citizenship (that is, full membership in the community) meant nothing more than the status enjoyed by those who were members of this ethnic entity by birth. That is to say, membership had nothing to do with having been born within the territory of Israel, and no amount of “naturalization” could procure full membership for those who belonged outside the ethnic group.

Thus the situation envisioned by Leviticus 19:33-34 is significantly different from ours. On the one hand, every resident alien is vulnerable; on the other, there seems to be no such thing as an “illegal” alien. Since all resident aliens are permanent outsiders, there is no point in distinguishing among them. This lends an attractive universality to the command: all resident aliens, whatever their particular status, are to be loved as if they were Israelites. But it is the as if that is crucial: they are to be universally loved, even as they are (at least for the time being) universally excluded.

How, then, can Leviticus 19:33-34 be applied today? One option might be to concentrate on the love command here, and relate the passage in general terms to Jesus’ availability to everyone, without exception. But since the command to love the resident alien assumes continuing exclusion, it cannot be identified with Jesus’ welcoming of the stranger. This does not mean that exclusion is what the people of Israel represent – far from it. But it does mean that this passage is not on its own as helpful to the cause of immigration reform as we might have hoped. Nevertheless, its very unhelpfulness performs an important function, by highlighting an element of our own situation that we might have taken for granted otherwise.

“Citizenship” means something completely different in our context because “nation” means something completely different. It’s not that the existential anxiety of being a stranger in a strange land has changed all that much – of course it hasn’t. But what has changed is how we understand the entity within which the alien is trying to make a home. Before 1500 C. E. or so, a nation was largely defined either as the homeland of a particular ethnic group (e.g., medieval England) or, in a more complex way, as the region over which a particular ruler had jurisdiction (e.g., medieval France).

It was understood that nations in the first sense might contain large minorities who were not, as it were, part of the nation (e.g., Jews in medieval Russia), and that nations in the second sense would persist no matter how populations might shift within them (e.g., Bosnia-Herzegovina under Turkish rule).

By contrast, the modern nation state, which began to emerge about five hundred years ago, has had less and less to do with ethnicity or with the sway of particular rulers, and more and more to do with a clearly defined territory, with citizenship conferred on all who are born within those borders, or who are permitted to make their permanent home there. We recognize there are nations that have never fit this model or do so no longer, but the United States is not one of them.

The United States is the iconic expression of the modern state since, quite apart from its democratic ideals, it is all about citizenship. It is therefore no surprise that United States citizens have a difficult time dealing with a category of persons who are residing in their midst, but who are not, whether by choice or for fear of deportation, on the path to citizenship. In the United States context, to be a permanent resident alien (as many inhabitants of ancient Israel apparently were) introduces a burdensome tension into the national life.

In any case, prior to the modern notion of citizenship, there was no such thing as illegal immigration. The question on which the present debate turns – what to do with illegal immigrants – is one which the ancient world would have been mystified by, and which indeed, apart from anti-Semitic legislation (which probably paved the way for modern immigration law), much of the western world would probably not have understood even two hundred years ago.

Church and Nation

So where does all this bring us? Jesus’ ministry of welcome has always called the church into radical openness. How shall we respond to that call, particularly as it relates to undocumented immigrants? Again, how can a church that is striving to emulate Jesus enlist society – or, rather, the nation – as a companion? Since nothing like the modern nation – good or bad – is to be found in the Bible, how shall we discern where nationhood’s potential for radical openness lies?

This comes down to one question: what do church and nation have to do with each other at this time? This question calls attention to the delicate and rich dialectic of Christianity concerning “discipleship and citizenship.” It is clear that Christians are summoned to discipleship, to participate fully in Christ’s ministry of welcome. It is equally clear that such discipleship cannot be transposed into citizenship wholesale, because citizenship in a pluralistic state faces other considerations.

At the same time, it is inescapable that “discipleship” goes far to shape our sense of “citizenship.” This is the deeper question raised by the church’s advocacy for undocumented workers. Unless we, as Christians, are clear about our own place within the national life, and can demonstrate that we not only care about our nation but see into its spiritual heart, we won’t have much to say that hasn’t been said better by others.

In fact, the Anglican tradition has a lot to say about this. When the Church of England was established in the sixteenth century, it was, to some extent, part of a strategy to assure the absolute authority of the state, at the very moment when England was transforming itself into a modern state. But this is not the whole story. The Church also seized this opportunity to forge a partnership between church and state, grounded in the stake each shared in the spiritual life of the nation.

Several centuries later, the Episcopal Church emerged out of the attempt to transplant that experiment into a decidedly un-Anglican and highly modern republic. Today, as we have noted, the Episcopal Church includes a number of dioceses and jurisdictions beyond the United States. We need to know what that experiment was about if we are to witness effectively about immigration reform, as imbedded as that issue is in our understanding of citizenship and national life.

Hooker and Nationhood

Our best starting-point is Richard Hooker (1553-1600), the first – and seminal – architect of an Anglican theology of nationhood. We turn to his greatest work for guidance, The Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity.

Hooker wrote his Laws against the backdrop of increasing royal power under Elizabeth I, as England made good its bid to establish itself as a major European power, and the Church of England, amid increasing criticism from Presbyterian circles, settled into life under the royal supremacy. Hooker is sometimes viewed as an apologist for the establishment, and it is true that he defended the forms and worship of the established church with great cogency and vigor. But his analysis of the origin and purpose of the body politic, while it cannot be said to be critical of the Elizabethan regime, does invite a critical assessment of the emerging nation state.

In Book 1 of the Laws, Hooker argues that all political rule derives its legitimacy from an original compact (or covenant) among equals. This is not a new idea – it was a commonplace in medieval and renaissance political theory that people were governed because they not only needed but wanted to be governed, if only because they wished to be protected from each other:

To take away all. . . mutual grievances, injuries and wrongs, there was no way but only by growing unto composition and agreement amongst themselves, by ordaining some kind of government public, and by yielding themselves subject thereunto, that … by them the peace, tranquility, and happy estate of the rest might be procured (1.10.4).

But this passage needs to be read in light of Hooker’s strong assertion that human beings are essentially sociable and crave interaction with one another. While Hooker opens his discussion of political rule by suggesting that human beings form societies because they can survive better together than separately (1.10.1), he closes it by reflecting at some length on the “law of nations” (ius gentium), the dimension of law which since late antiquity had been defined as that body of rights and obligations on which there was general consensus throughout the world.

More particularly, the “law of nations” referred to how people and nations were expected to treat one another in situations where local law did not reach or could not be enforced (e.g., on the open seas or in time of war), or where foreigners were particularly dependent on the protection of their hosts (e.g., ships seeking harbor, ambassadors, travelers, tradesmen bringing goods from afar, and resident aliens). In other words, it was a precursor of international law, enshrined not in particular treaties or written codes but in custom.

But Hooker saw something else in the law of nations. For him it cast light on something all human beings have in common, namely, our desire for fellowship, even and perhaps especially with those who differ most from us.

Moreover – and this is significant for our discussion – Hooker uses the origin of civil society itself as his primary illustration of this universal desire:

Civil society doth more content the nature of man than any private kind of solitary living, because in society this good of mutual participation is so much larger than otherwise. Herewith notwithstanding we are not satisfied, but we covet (if it might be) to have a kind of society and fellowship with all mankind (1.10.12).

Hooker is trying to say two things about government. On the one hand, we have the notion of government as a necessary check on the selfishness and potential violence of human beings who have been driven by necessity to associate with one another. On the other, we have the notion of the human race as a species that cannot flourish without an abundant – one might say limitless – social life. Hooker seems to be suggesting that, given our sinfulness, we do need governance, but that this governance must function not simply to protect us from one another, but to maximize the opportunities for communion and fellowship with one another.

We can then take this to be Hooker’s view of the purpose of a nation. As such, we may begin to draw certain implications about what it means for us to be fellow citizens of such a nation as we seek one another’s common good.

We have only to look back at the rise of the early modern nation state to see the economic and geopolitical forces that drove the process of centralization, militarization and religious conformity in England, France and Spain. It is as if Hooker were saying, if we are to think nationally rather than locally, let it be for the sake of wider fellowship within our borders, not for placing power in fewer and fewer hands, or creating a more efficient economy, or competing more successfully with other governments for the world’s goods. However that may be, Hooker’s invocation of the law of nations makes it clear that communion and fellowship with the widest possible range of people is the ultimate goal of national life.

This idea can be understood in two ways. On the one hand, any legitimate government must ensure that national life be characterized by more opportunity for internal social exchange, not less. On the other, the government must encourage and support its citizens’ contact with the world beyond its borders by adhering to the basic tenets of the law of nations: keeping borders as open as possible, welcoming strangers, and promoting the circulation of ideas and material goods.

What emerges here is the idea of the nation state as an essentially moral enterprise, in which a relatively diverse collection of people from different local regions, speaking different local dialects, belonging to different classes and harboring different religious views, are expected to achieve common ground through the exercise of that “natural delight which man hath to transfuse himself into others, and to receive from others into himself especially those things wherein the excellency of his kind doth most consist” (1.10.12).

What for some may have been a strategic social agenda was for Hooker a spiritual challenge. It was nothing less than the transformation of England into an occasion for love of neighbor on a broad scale. In imagining the emerging nation state as an opportunity for respectful engagement with a wide range of fellow citizens, Hooker is seeing the national community as an anticipation of what the universal church mystically already is.

Hooker’s assertion that the church is a spiritual body politic which is universal (not national) in its essence underscores the extent to which he hoped that the body of Christ, as it found itself situated in each particular nation, might aid in bringing the deepest spiritual implications of nationhood to the fore. At their most authentic, church and nation are bound together under God’s providence by a common agenda: despite human sinfulness, to be the occasion for as many people as possible to interact peaceably with one another as equals.

We are aware that the society inhabited by Hooker was anything but a community of equals. But the inner logic of his thought clearly points in that direction. It is no accident that John Locke admired “the judicious Hooker’s” analysis of civil society and political rule. Even more to the point, it was to Hooker that the young Episcopal Church looked for guidance as it struggled to discover its proper role in the new republic. For John Henry Hobart (1775-1830), third bishop of New York, Hooker’s defense of episcopacy and The Book of Common Prayer showed Anglicanism to be the true reviver of the early (“primitive”) church, and the subsequent establishment by the American church of a polity which empowered all orders of the church completed that process of revival. Indeed, Hobart was thoroughly egalitarian in his understanding of the church, viewing it as a spiritual community in which “the distinctions of life are leveled” (quoted by R. Bruce Mullin in One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism, ed. Marsha L. Dutton and Patrick Terrell Gray, [Eerdmans, 2006], p. 141). While he reviled the rise of partisanship and political wrangling, Hobart also embraced America’s steady movement away from a rigid class system, and clearly viewed the life and discipline of the church as a model for national life

(See Hobart’s sermon, The Security of a Nation http://anglicanhistory.org/usa/jhhobart/security1815.html).

Thus for Hobart, as for Hooker, the church had everything to do with the nation as its context for living out its mission; and the nation, all the more because of its free and equal citizenry, was in a God-given position to benefit from the church’s influence. The effect of this vision of the Episcopal Church on its subsequent development cannot be underestimated. Not that we have resisted the separation of church and state, still less dreamed of a United States populated by Episcopalians. But our self-identity as Episcopalians has largely been formed by our effort to discern how our presence in the nation might be of service to the nation.

Serving the nation remains a viable and authentic agenda for the Episcopal Church in the United States. Our tradition emphasizes common prayer and devotion to the common good. As such, it does not see any contradiction between following Jesus and engaging actively in public life, in this case, national life. We recognize its failings, but we also perceive its spiritual potential as a basis for respectful interaction across economic, ethnic and religious lines. We can reasonably claim that the United States has been shaped, in part, by something like Hooker’s vision of the nation as a laboratory for the love of neighbor, and can invite our fellow citizens to look at themselves anew in light of that claim.

In any case, It can certainly be argued that the founders of our nation, while they did not seek to establish a Christian nation in the strict sense, did seek to establish just such a laboratory, since, as Hannah Arendt pointed out, “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” included “public happiness,” that is, the enjoyment of vigorous debate and creative collaboration in the civic arena, where mutual respect is the political equivalent of love. If that is the case, the collective political will that established our independence and bore fruit in our union is an historical example of that compact or covenant which for Hooker is the origin of all authentic national life, namely, the collective decision to value whoever happens to be around. If Hooker is right that this emergent national covenant implies a decision to value all human beings without distinction (including those who are not born or naturalized into the nation), then it is no surprise that our nation began instantly to welcome wave after wave of immigrants.

The Challenge Before Us

To be sure, there were economic incentives for this open door policy, but could it not be said that we welcomed a constant stream of newcomers in order to keep the original compact alive, both by enlarging the circle of those who ‘happened to be around,’ and by keeping ourselves attentive to the wider human community from which they came?

We do not mean to idealize our history here. We cannot overlook the forced immigration of Africans into slavery, the breaking of treaty upon treaty with the original inhabitants of this continent, and the contempt endured by many immigrants who came here more or less freely (yet also often driven by oppression and poverty at home). Racism and colonialism are deeply woven into our story, and our church has been complicit in the death and marginalizing of countless people. But whenever we have the political will to face this history, the covenant Hooker had in mind has a chance to be reasserted and renewed.

Since the very beginning, the biblical community (ancient Israel and the early church) have faced the tension of being a covenantal community bound to neighborly relationships with all the neighbors and being a community of ethnic identity that readily tilts toward exclusivity. In the Old Testament, the temptation to ethnic exclusivism is visible in Ezra’s mandate concerning “Holy Seed” (Ezra 9:2), a mandate countered by the inclusionary statement of Isaiah 56: 3-7. The New Testament church experienced the same tension when it grappled with the inclusion of Gentiles into what had so far been a purely Jewish enterprise. And indeed, every nation state—notably Britain with its recurring image of a “true Englishman” and the United States with its recurring image of a classical “American”--is tempted toward an identity that excludes all those who are “otherwise.” That same tension between embracing and excluding the other exists in each of us as persons.

But of course a neighborly national covenant stands against exclusivity and sees that the truth of covenant depends precisely upon the act of welcoming the other. There is no doubt that the temptation to cultural superiority is operative in the current debate on immigration policy. The challenge facing the Church today is to assist the nation in its walk to neighborliness at a time when the nation is fearful. As Walter Brueggemann has noted:

That journey from anxious scarcity through miraculous abundance to a neighborly common good has been peculiarly entrusted to the church and its allies. I take ‘church’ here to refer to the institutional church, but I mean it not as a package of truth and control, but as a liturgical, interpretive offer to re-imagine the world differently. When the church only echoes the world’s kingdom of scarcity, then it has failed in its vocation. But the faithful church keeps at the task of living out a journey that points to the common good

--Walter Brueggemann, Journey to the Common Good (Westminster John Knox Press, 2010), p. 32

Witness and Action

So where does that leave U.S. Episcopalians with regard to immigration reform? As a spiritual body politic whose emerging goal is to display Jesus’ radical welcome to everyone, it is clear that we have an obligation to advocate for every undocumented worker as already being a citizen of God’s reign on earth and one for whom Christ died. This must always be our starting point.

We are part of the universal church, and as such our horizon of concern is global in scope. Our imagination should be informed by the law of nations, with its assumption that humankind as a whole is meant for communion and fellowship, and its bias in favor of spiritual, intellectual or material exchange across all lines. We should not hesitate to join other faith communities in actively protesting racial stereotyping, and demand a halt to practices that treat undocumented workers as criminals – resulting in raids, incarceration, and deportation involving the separation of families. We should continue to offer material and spiritual support to undocumented workers and their families, wherever possible, and should expect that they will continue to receive medical attention and police protection as needed. This is simply a matter of respecting basic human dignity, and we have every moral warrant for calling the nation to account, whether we appeal simply to human rights, divine law, natural law, the law of nations, our national covenant, or to the Bible that grounds them all.

What may not be so obvious is how to pursue this witness in solidarity with the nation as whole. There is a sense in which opposition to inhumane practices needs to move forward whether or not it wins broad approval in the larger community. But certain elements of immigration reform -- in particular, changes in policy that would make it easier for undocumented workers to regularize their presence in the United States, and would make citizenship much easier to achieve – require and deserve a different approach.

Such policies do not fall under the category of humanitarian relief and, generally speaking, no nation is morally obligated to implement them. Indeed, opponents of such policies can and do bring reasonable arguments to the table. For instance, the United States citizens in our House of Bishops are aware and understand that many of our fellow-citizens are opposed to any reform that appears to condone illegality by granting amnesty to undocumented workers.

We know that some are wary of any policy that might further tax the public infrastructure (schools, hospitals, police and fire protection, roads), and are fearful of a glutted labor market that might further increase unemployment and bring wages down. To the extent that we own our own participation in the national community, it is hard to see how we can withhold sympathy from these views, or, at least, not entertain them respectfully, since, if we take the church-nation alliance to heart, apart from matters of humanitarian urgency, our fellow citizens have as much of a claim on our attention and cooperation as do the undocumented workers in our midst.

The claim of the vulnerable is always a strong claim, and undocumented workers are unquestionably vulnerable. Yet so is the claim of those with whom we have entered into covenant as fellow citizens, if, indeed, we, as Episcopalians, regard the modern nation as a collection of more or less diverse communities and individuals who have agreed to engage with one another as equals and, insofar as they are fellow citizens, to love one another. Those who are related to each other by such a covenant have a prior claim on one another. This is so because they depend on one another for the fulfillment of the common goal which the national covenant is meant to serve.

As Episcopalians, we have a twofold relationship with this covenant. On the one hand, we believe this covenant to be essential to any national integrity, whether we are speaking of the United States, or Mexico, or Ecuador, or any nation in which the Episcopal Church makes its witness. On the other, those of us who are citizens of a particular nation bear a responsibility to that particular national covenant as citizens.

This means that the voice and the perspective of our fellow citizen deserves attention. However, it does not mean that we turn our backs on resident aliens and the world community they represent, still less that we place our fellowship with fellow citizens above our fellowship with Christ, but that we remain true to nationhood’s more limited and preliminary goal, which is to strive for genuine communion and fellowship within its own borders, for the sake of a wider communion even now.

We do not discount the concerns of our fellow citizens regarding the threat uncontrolled immigration poses to our safety and economic well-being. We insist, however, that these concerns be approached within the broader context of a national commitment and covenant to inclusion and fellowship across all lines for the sake of the common good.

Furthermore, we profess that inhumane policies directed against undocumented persons (raids, separation of families, denial of health services) are intolerable on broadly religious and humanitarian grounds, as is attested by the consensus of a wide range of religious bodies on this matter. With that in mind, we look to another passage from the Torah: “There shall be one law for you and for the resident stranger; it shall be a law for all time throughout the ages. You and the stranger shall be alike before the Lord” (Number 15:15).

Needless to say, before we can use the national covenant as an argument for new policies, we must convince our fellow citizens that such a covenant exists or is at least worth striving to make real. We will do that not so much with words as with our willingness as church people to be involved in civic life at every level, and with our renewed passion to reinvigorate and if necessary reinvent a national life that draws us into lively fellowship across all lines.

Appendix A: Ecumenical and Interreligious Resources

The issue of immigration has been a central concern for our ecumenical and interfaith partners, who have focused on issues of fairness, equality, and social justice, while at the same time taking a stand against racism. For instance, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America formulates official policy through Social Statements, produced by Churchwide units and adopted formally by the Church Council and Churchwide Assembly. Its statement on Immigration calls for justice and fairness in immigration policy. The ELCA has also adopted a social statement on Economic Life, which calls for “sufficient, sustainable livelihood for all.” Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services (LIRS) is the refugee resettlement organization for the ELCA, and also engages in advocacy. The LIRS has an Action Network to mobilize grassroots support and spread information. The ELCA also participates in the Ecumenical Advocacy Days sponsored by the National Council of Churches, which this year focused on questions of immigration. Here are some pertinent websites:

Lutheran Immigration and Relief Services: www.lirs.org

Social Statement on Immigration:

http://www.elca.org/What-We-Believe/Social-Issues/Messages/Immigration.aspx

Social Statement on Economic Life:

http://www.elca.org/What-We-Believe/Social-Issues/Social-Statements/Economic-Life.aspx

The United Methodist Church’s General Board on Church and Society has likewise been heavily involved in issues of immigration reform and fairness in immigration policy. It issues a “Faith in Action” Newsletter to raise awareness and develop a grassroots network. The General Secretary of the General Board also serves as the primary Washington advocacy person for the United Methodist Church, and for 2010 the UMC has made immigration reform and economic justice as two of its four Legislative Priorities for its Washington office. The UMC has played an important role in issues of social justice, and its 1908 Social Creed is an important theological foundation. (UMC General Board on Church and Society: http://www.umc-gbcs.org)

The Roman Catholic Church has also been an extremely important voice in calling for immigration reform as well as advocating for issues of social justice. Cardinal Roger Mahoney of Los Angeles, for instance, issued a pastoral letter ordering priests to ignore a potential California law which would make it a crime to assist illegal immigrants. On a formal level, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a pastoral letter in 2003, Strangers No Longer: Together on a Journey of Hope which calls for comprehensive and fair immigration reform. It also set up a diocesan-based Justice For Immigrants (JFI) network. It has also set up the Catholic Legal Immigration Network Inc (CLINIC) which provides a number of resources as well as advocacy.

Strangers No Longer: http://www.nccbuscc.org/mrs/strangers.html,

Justice for Immigrants (JFI): http://www.justiceforimmigrants.org/

Catholic Legal Immigration Network Inc (CLINIC): http://cliniclegal.org/)

The National Council of Churches of Christ consists of 36 member communions, including The Episcopal Church, and has historically been an important voice in issues of social justice. It has also made immigration reform, along with economic and social justice, a priority for 2010. A collection of resources is available at: http://www.ncccusa.org/immigration/immigmain.html.

See also the following statement, submitted by the Commission on Social Action of Reform Judaism to the 696^th Union for Reform Judaism General Assembly and adopted on December 14, 2007 in San Diego, California.

BACKGROUND

American immigration policy has long reflected the tension between those who seek to welcome new immigrants and those who seek to limit their entry into the United States. Historically the Jewish community has identified closely with those supporting opportunities for newcomers. As noted in the 1995 Resolution on Immigration adopted by the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (now the Union for Reform Judaism), "we support those efforts that compassionately seek to regulate and to aid newcomers to this land but we oppose those that will unduly restrict immigration or burden the lives of illegal immigrants." Other resolutions adopted by the Union related to the status and treatment of immigrants include Refugees in Canada (1989), Immigration (1989) and Citizenship (1997). In 2006 the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR) adopted a resolution supporting efforts seeking “comprehensive immigration reform, which would include not only better enforcement of our nation's laws, but also a guest worker program and a path to earned legalization.”

JEWISH TEXTS AND VALUES

Both our Jewish tradition and our historical experiences lead us to support immigration policy that is compassionate and fair. The Torah teaches us to reach out to and care for vulnerable populations, including non-citizens and resident aliens: “If your brother, being in straits, comes under your authority, and you hold him as though a resident alien, let him live by your side” (Leviticus 25:35). We are repeatedly commanded to care for the needy within our extended family: “If there is a needy person among you, one of your kinsmen in any of your settlements… do not harden your heart and shut your hand against your needy kinsman. Rather, you must open your hand and lend him sufficient for whatever he needs” (Deut. 15:7). Rabbinic Judaism also entitled non-Jewish individuals to financial and emotional support from the Jewish community in order to create a harmonious society: “Our rabbis have taught: ‘we support the poor of the non-Jew along with the poor of Israel, and visit the sick of the non-Jew along with the sick of Israel, and bury the poor of the non-Jew along with the dead of Israel, in the interests of peace’” (BT Gittin 61a).

Our historical experience also sensitizes Jews to the need of family members to extend a helping hand to one another, even across borders, in times of economic hardship. As told in the Book of Genesis, during the difficult years of famine throughout the Middle East, Joseph’s position in Egypt made possible the resettlement and survival of his family: "God has sent me ahead of you to ensure your survival on earth, and to save your lives in an extraordinary deliverance... come down to me without delay—you and your children and your grandchildren, your flocks and herds, and all that is yours. There I will provide for you... (Genesis 45). The Book of Ruth similarly personalizes the required response of the Jewish community toward the immigrant. Ruth, the impoverished recent arrival to her new land, gleans alongside full Israelite citizens who are also in need—a privilege to which Ruth is entitled once she adopts her new homeland and links her fate with its citizens. From the patriarchs’ and matriarchs’ sojourns in foreign lands to our seminal experience as strangers in Egypt, the plight of the non-citizen resonates for Jews.

The halachic (legal) obligations to resettle family members apply to our extended family. Taken literally, we might conclude that these mandates only obligate us to work for the resettlement of Jews. However, our desire to care for members of our own extended family sensitizes us to similar claims for family reunification expressed by other immigrant groups in America. Further, our historical memory of dangerous flights in search of safe havens inspires a desire to help others in similar distress. The Union reaffirmed these views most recently by adopting the 2003 Resolution on Civil Liberties, which states our opposition to "measures that strip the power of immigration and federal judges to review decisions and exercise discretion regarding the status, detention, and deportation of non-citizens."

As a community of immigrants and refugees with a long history of sojourning in foreign lands, American Jews have a unique responsibility to ensure that the rights of non-citizens are protected by our nation’s immigration policy. Just as our ancestors were permitted to reunite their families and resettle refugees from their lands of origin to their newly adopted homelands, today’s immigrant communities deserve similar opportunities.

TODAY’S IMMIGRATION SYSTEM

Despite a sweeping overhaul of the United States’ immigration policy a decade ago, it is clear that our immigration system is still inequitable. There are currently nearly 12 million individuals living in the U.S. without legal status. Chronic backlogs in visa distribution result in families being separated for years. While "immediate relatives" face the shortest wait for visas, those in lower preference categories are plagued by delays as long as 11 years. Employment-based visas are available in numbers too small to meet either employer demands or accommodate the laborers available for work. Unauthorized crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border—aggravated by Border Patrol strategies—have led to a record number of deaths in the past year alone.

The failure to address these problems within our current immigration system has created an enforcement vacuum, too often leading non-federal authorities to attempt to enforce federal immigration law. In addition to the humanitarian issues these problems create, domestic security can be undermined when so many people live in the shadows of society and are unable or unwilling to work cooperatively with law enforcement agencies. We cannot ignore the economic, social, and human reality of these “strangers” who are, in fact, our neighbors.

THE CURRENT IMMIGRATION DEBATE

Recent discussion in Congress has reflected the historic tensions in our immigration policy. Debate in both the House and Senate has primarily focused on two approaches: 1) legislation that promotes enforcement or border security measures exclusively (the "enforcement-only" approach) and 2) legislation that promotes security measures but also includes a path to earned citizenship for undocumented immigrants, along with measures to ensure that those who came here illegally make appropriate restitution (the "comprehensive immigration reform" approach). In October 2006, President Bush signed into law the Secure Fence Act embodying the enforcement-only approach. The law authorizes the construction of 700 miles of fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Measures designed solely to keep immigrants out of the U.S. ignore the domestic and global forces that lead to rising levels of immigration. A truly comprehensive immigration policy must address these circumstances. In the U.S., undocumented immigrants are concentrated primarily in low-skilled, low-paying jobs in the service sector. Contrary to arguments of those who claim that there are fewer job opportunities available for American workers because of the high rate of illegal immigration, undocumented immigrants often fill positions others are unwilling to take. By doing so, they play a vital role in the American economy. In addition, immigrants, including many undocumented workers, pay federal income taxes and contribute to Social Security. In fact, the Social Security Administration estimates that three-quarters of undocumented immigrants pay Social Security taxes, even though they are ineligible for benefits.

Advocates of a comprehensive approach to immigration reform believe that an earned legalization program would 1) be more humane than the alternatives, 2) grant new immigrants the opportunities that generations of immigrants to the United States have enjoyed, 3) acknowledge that undocumented workers meet our demand for essential workers, and 4) broaden the tax base by integrating millions of new workers into the above-ground economy. They also stress that a program of earned legalization for undocumented residents would enhance cooperation with law enforcement officials by members of the immigrant community who would no longer fear deportation, likely resulting in reduced crime and improved national security.

Even some provisions in Comprehensive Immigration Reform proposals would create unreasonable family and economic hardships for those seeking to legalize their status. For example, proposals that would provide visas to those who are currently undocumented by requiring immigrants to first leave the U.S. and return to their country of origin, known as “touchback,” are unreasonable. Recent ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) raids raise due process concerns and have led to families being separated and deportation of parents of U.S. citizens.

A comprehensive approach to reforming our nation’s immigration system is the most realistic and humane solution to this escalating crisis. Such an approach takes into account not only the importance of securing our nation’s borders and upholding the law, but also the fact that millions of undocumented immigrants currently live in the shadows of society where they are potential targets for unscrupulous employers. They live in fear of law enforcement and thus are afraid to report crimes, including domestic violence, or threats to our nation’s security. And they face obstacles to obtaining needed health care, posing a threat to public health. When local law enforcement agents or health care professionals are required to enforce federal immigration law, it undermines their ability to work cooperatively with the immigrant community on such issues. Providing opportunities for the undocumented to eventually become legal citizens after meeting specific requirements is a necessary component of comprehensive immigration reform.

THEREFORE, the Union for Reform Judaism resolves to:

1. Call for a comprehensive and generous United States immigration policy that treats all immigrants justly and reflects the basic principles of human dignity and human rights;

2. Oppose enforcement-only legislation while maintaining support for effective and humane border security to curb illegal immigration as part of a comprehensive immigration policy;

3. Support legislation providing for pathways to earned citizenship for undocumented immigrants that reflect fair and compassionate eligibility standards;

4. Call on the Department of Homeland Security to ensure that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement units act within the framework of U.S. law, which requires court-ordered search warrants, due process, and humane treatment of detainees and their families.

5. Call for Congress and the Administration to adopt:

a. Fair and expeditious processes to deal with the problems of family separation and backlogs in resolving applications for citizenship, asylum, and visas,

b. Provisions that would allow undocumented immigrants in the process of applying for legal status to remain in the U.S.;

6. Support measures to clarify that enforcement of federal immigration law is the exclusive province of the appropriate federal legal authorities by:

a. Opposing efforts by non-federal entities and local law enforcement officers to enforce federal immigration law;

b. Opposing efforts by non-federal entities to establish punitive regulations or legislation targeting undocumented immigrants;

7. Support legislation that recognizes the contribution of immigrants to the U.S. economy and labor force by providing increased opportunities for immigrants to work legally in the United States through temporary worker visas;

8. Support legislation and policies that address the causes of illegal immigration including legislation that:

a. Increases the number of visas allowing unskilled laborers to work in the U.S. legally;

b. Increases guest worker programs and temporary worker visas; and

c. Addresses the U.S. policies that contribute to the flow of immigrants;

9. Oppose the exploitation of immigrants in the workplace and encourage employers to maintain the highest safety standards and provide fair and just compensation for all workers;

10. Encourage congregations and other arms of the Reform Movement to:

a. Educate their own members and the broader community on the important and beneficial role that immigrants play in our nation’s economic, social and cultural life and the need for a fair, compassionate and comprehensive immigration policy;

b. Participate in coalitions that advocate comprehensive immigration reform consistent with these principles; and

c. Assist immigrants to integrate into local communities, while recognizing and respecting the importance of preserving immigrant culture and heritage.

Appendix B: Resolutions Pertaining to Immigration, General Convention of the Episcopal Church

1982-A063

Encourage Relief for Refugees - Concurred as Substituted

The 67th General Convention commends efforts to resettle refugees and encourages Episcopalians to accept refugees in their communities. It urges fair treatment of Salvadoran and Haitian refugees and permanent status for political and economic refugees.

1982-D051

Urge Immigration and Church Sponsorship of Amerasian Children - Concurred as Amended

The 67th General Convention urges that immigration laws be changed to allow Amerasian children into the US. It encourages dioceses, congregations and families to provide for them and urges the Presiding Bishop to encourage sponsorship.

1985-D018

Call on the Government to Grant Immigration Status to Central American War Refugees - Concurred as Amended

The 68th General Convention reaffirms the call for the U.S. to offer safe haven to Central Americans seeking temporary refuge in our nation from civil strife in their home countries.

1985-D113

Request Congress to Reform Immigration Legislation - Concurred as Amended

The 68th General Convention calls the Congress to enact immigration legislation that recognizes the human realities of undocumented people in this country and that provides asylum for those fleeing political repression.

1988-B032

Request the ACC to Assist With the Settlement of Refugee Bishops and Clergy - Concurred as Amended

The 69th General Convention calls for steps to be taken for the employment, support, and maintenance of Anglican bishops, clergy, and lay workers who are forced by political or military circumstances to flee their dioceses in developing countries.

1988-B034

Commend Participation in the Legalization Program for Refugees - Concurred as Submitted

The 69th General Convention encourages continuing Church participation in the legalization program established Congress to assist persons to prepare for permanent residency through education and counseling.

1994-D113

On the Topic of California's "Save Our State" Initiative - Rejected

The 71st General Convention rejects the resolution declaring opposition to California's "Save Our State" initiative.

1994-D132

Reject Racism Toward Immigrants and Request the Church to Respond - Concurred as Substituted and Amended

The 71st General Convention condemns widespread racist and unjust treatment of immigrants in political discourse and directs provinces and dioceses to develop programs to counteract violations of civil rights.

1997-D081

Develop Advocacy Agenda of Refugee Admissions and Asylum - Concurred as Submitted

The 72nd General Convention charges the Episcopal Migration Ministries to develop an advocacy agenda for refugee admissions, asylum and access to essential services.

2000-A053

Adopt Migration Ministries Mission Statement - Concurred as Amended

The 73rd General Convention adopts the Migration Ministries mission statement, "The Episcopal Church in Service to Refugees and Immigrants."

2003-C028

Support the Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride - Concurred

The 74th General Convention calls for support of the Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride (IWFR) through the education of Church members about the importance of immigration law reform.

2003-C033

Urge Legislation to Expand Temporary Workers' Programs - Concurred as Substituted

The 74th General Convention urges Congress to enact legislation to expand temporary workers' programs.

2006-A017

Adopt the Fundamental Principles Included in “The Alien Among You” as the Policy of the Episcopal Church - Concurred as Amended

The 75th General Convention adopts the fundamental principles included in "The Alien Among You" as the policy of the Episcopal Church.

Source: www.episcopalarchives.org/

In addition, a resolution of the Lambeth Conference of 1998 states, “On the fiftieth anniversary of its proclamation in December of 1948, this conference: (a) resolves that its members urge compliance with the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the nations in which our various member Churches are located, and all others over whom we may exercise any influence; and (b) urges extension of the provisions of the Declaration to refugees, uprooted and displaced persons who may be forced by the circumstances of their lives to live among them” (Resolution I.1). Since Article 13 of the UNUDHR speaks of “the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country,” and Article 14 says, “everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution,” the Lambeth Conference of 1998 is urging a discussion of the issues of emigration and immigration in the context of human rights.

Bishops on the Border

2010-09-16T09:39:00.000-07:00

In some respects, it may seem strange for me to go on a border experience with other bishops just before our House of Bishops meeting in Arizona. After all, I can leave my home and be in Tijuana in thirty minutes. However, when Kirk Smith, the bishop of Arizona invited us for a two-day visit on both sides of the border, I couldn't resist.

In the wake of the passage and signing of SB1070, it was particularly important for the bishop of San Diego to be in solidarity with the bishop of Arizona. Our two dioceses comprise a segment of the border where undocumented individuals continue to risk their lives crossing the desert in hope of a better life. Because of this San Diego and Arizona have been the areas in which hundreds upon hundreds have perished in an effort to come to our country.

In reality, the situations in the Diocese of Arizona and in the Diocese of San Diego are similar. Both economies depend on migrant labor. Both areas have people with passionate feeling on both sides of the issue of undocumented persons and immigration. What I saw, I have seen before: crosses in memory of those who died in the desert, border agents trying to compassionately enforce the law, citizens of two nations affected by unintended consequences of legislation often more informed by rhetoric than wisdom.

In our table conversation today, Bishop Smith asserted that the constellation of issues that we catalog as immigration comprise the civil rights challenge of our generation. This is our Selma, our Birmingham. Indeed.

In the next few days, our House of Bishops will continue our prayerful consideration of a response to what is happening along the line in the sand from our beaches heading eastward. This modern trail of tears demands our response in word and deed. It demands that we find our heart of hospitality.

Upon my return, I look forward to finding our voice and our response to these our brothers and sisters who suffer simply because of their place of birth. I fully expect this work to move us to theologically reflect on our posture towards other members of the human family who are affected directly and indirectly by our actions and inactions. As followers of Jesus Christ, how can we do anything less? Our primary alliance to Christ leaves us no other option.

The Rt. Rev. James R. Mathes
Bishop of San Diego

Photo: A cross affixed to the border fence. Each little ribbon has the name of an individual who died attempting to cross the desert into the United States of America.

Prayers for Haiti and Mallory

2010-01-13T14:54:00.000-08:00

As the night falls in Haiti, our prayers are offered for those affected by this devastating earthquake. We pray for those who have died, the injuried, the homeless, and those who are trying to help. In our diocesan community, we are particularly vigilant as we await word from Mallory Holding, the daughter of our Canon to the Ordinary, Suzi Holding, who is serving as a missionary in Port au Prince.

I have linked below a story from today's Chicago Tribune about Mallory as well as ENS's story. Those of us in the Diocese of San Diego remember the great support that we received after the 2007 Wildfires. Now is the time to pay that grace forward. I encourage everyone to make generous gifts to Episcopal Relief and Development: http://www.er-d.org/HaitiEarthquakeResponse

Link to Chicago Tribune Article:http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/religion_theseeker/2010/01/haiti-earthquake.html

Link to ENS Story: http://ecusa.anglican.org/79901_118410_ENG_HTM.htm

Jesus and E-mail

2010-01-11T19:00:00.000-08:00

There are those moments in the gospels where people come to Jesus with an intention to trap, damage or even destroy. Two stories that stand out are the testing about paying taxes to Caesar and the rather elegant question about the woman who married seven brothers in succession: in the resurrection, whose wife will she be?

Over the last few days, I have visited with a bishop colleague who has felt deeply hurt by those whom he served, received word from the Presiding Bishop’s office of a death threat to another bishop colleague being investigated by the FBI, and just this morning received an anonymous letter pillorying me for my perceived failures.

I place these experiences next to the gospel story of the Epiphany, the story of the Magi. I wonder how can any of us who claim to follow Jesus be so harsh on another imperfect follower of Jesus Is not our calling to be like the Magi, to be bearers of gifts?

If Jesus had email, my hunch is that the messages in his inbox would have made the messages in my inbox seem bland. But what of his sent items? How would he respond? Well, he did say turn the other cheek. He was silent before so many, including Pilate. He said love your neighbor as yourself.

So, perhaps here is the question, before we hit send: WWJS—what would Jesus send?

Christmas Message

2009-12-21T11:03:00.001-08:00

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Over these last days of Advent, I find myself replaying two seemingly distinct moments. One was seeing the array of presents and food offerings at Episcopal Community Services for the hundreds of people who will receive the love of our community at Christmas. I also remember seeing a man and a woman on University Avenue in San Diego, pushing a cart which seemed to contain all of their worldly belongings.

As Christmas comes upon us, it was not a flight of great imagination to see this couple as contemporary icons of Mary and Jose ph on their weary way to Bethlehem. Indeed, I wondered if a portion of the offerings assembled at Episcopal Community Services might be transported by the magi of these holy days to wherever their nativity may be.

On Christmas, we celebrate the Incarnation of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I rejoice that God has become human and dwelled among us. We will bless the bread and wine become Christ on that holy day. Perhaps, as we receive the sacrament, Jesus again with us and in us, we will be moved to seek Jesus in our Bethlehem. Mary and Joseph just might be walking down the street. Indeed, that moment will be pregnant with the possibility of hope, of Emmanuel, God with us.

May God bless you in Christmastide.

General Convention Update

2009-07-14T07:23:00.000-07:00

One of the realities of being a more seasoned bishop is that the General Convention demands more of me in terms of committee work and advancing legislation. While this certainly means that I have less free time (an odd concept at the General Convention in all cases), I have the blessing of having greater influence in the leadership and life of the church. This privilege is humbling.

As I expected the budget of the Episcopal Church and resolutions about the place of gay and lesbian persons in the life of our Church are taking precedence. As vice chair of the Stewardship and Development Committee for bishops, I have found myself fully engaged in the former. I am pleased that we have advanced to the House of Deputies what may be the most transformational resolution of this Convention, a resolution on Mission Funding, A061. At a time when the overall budget is being significantly reduced, this will be especially important work. We also moved forward critical legislation on Strategic Planning, passed a critical resolution on Hispanic Ministry, voted for a denominational health care plan, and extended equitable pension benefits to lay persons who work for the church.

Regarding assorted resolutions on the place of gay and lesbian persons in the life of the Episcopal Church, the House of Bishops passed Resolution D025 with minor amendments. This resolution is the subject of much press attention. I supported this resolution as a full expression of where we stand as a Church. It acknowledges that gay and lesbian persons have, and may in the future, be ordained to all orders of the Church.

George Councell, my friend and colleague from New Jersey, remembered the joke, "Do you believe in infant baptism? Believe in it? I've seen it!"

Like George, I too have seen faithful and godly ministry of gay and lesbian persons in all ministries of our church. As a matter of integrity and authenticity, I look forward to celebrating the ministries of all God calls into the life of ordained ministry. Here is the current legislation.

There are those who may be distressed about this as well as future acts of this convention. I pray that our mutual response to this unsettling will be more engagement not less, more conversation not less, more honoring of difference not less.

General Convention Day Three

2009-07-10T08:21:00.000-07:00

The General Convention of the Episcopal Church is a combination of Congress and Carnival with a smidge of family reunion thrown in. I can hardly leave my room without running into someone that Iknow who I have not seen for some time. I have seen friends from former dioceses, parishes and seminary. Strangely, they look older than I remember!

As the Convention moves forward, it seems clear that we will be focusing on the budget and how we deal with a challenging economy while moving forward mission priorities. There are tough choices ahead. Indeed, there are also tough choices around the question of the place of gay and lesbian persons in our church. For me the fundamental question is regarding blessing of relationships. The question of ordination is secondary to that. I support and commend for consideration a resolution from our deputies, D043. You can view the resolution on the General Convention website: http://ecusa.anglican.org/gc2009.htm

While some worry about the decline of the Episcopal Church, I think should take comfort in the fact that we still attract protesters. However, I think these folks may be professionals--sort of like paid mourners. Note in the photograph that Chris Bernard, youth minister of St. James-by-the-Sea is engaged in a little Episcopal Evangelism. You go guy!

Off and Running

2009-07-07T17:01:00.000-07:00

Even though tomorrow is the official beginning of the 76th General Convention, we are off and running. Our deputation enjoyed dinner together followed by fellowship and conversations about the triennial budget and other pieces of legislation.

Today, we began our committee meetings in the morning. I serve on the Stewardship and Development Committee, which has about fifteen piecese of legislation to consider. The afternoon was taken up with orientation meetings. I am off for a quick dinner and our first committee hearings for Stewardship and Development.

Convention action can be followed on the General Convention website: http://ecusa.anglican.org/gc2009.htm

Heading to General Convention

2009-07-06T08:11:00.000-07:00

While the General Convention does not officially begin until Wednesday, I drive up to Anaheim today for committee meetings prior to the convention. I serve on the Stewardship and Development Committee. I am particularly interested in resolutions coming out of this committee and the Evangelism and Domestic Commission, on which I served during this past Triennium.

I hope to give daily updates about the Convention. Also look for updates from our deputies on our website. The theme of this General Convention is UBUNTU: I in you and you in me. Let's pray that we can live into that in an authentic way.

Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth

2009-06-23T08:14:00.000-07:00

These words from Isaiah have always spoken to me. They remind us of God's call to bind together all of humanity as one. Like many, I have watched the news from Iran with deep sorrow. We are reminded again of the brutal way that some hold on to power.

Indeed, in San Diego, we have received refugees of violence and oppression from around the world. Our diocesan Refugee Network was founded to provide aid to those fleeing genocide in Sudan and they are now also helping those who are refugees from Burma (renamed by the military dictatorship Myanmar).

The Burmeses refugees in San Diego are a part of the Karen minority. Many are Christians and some have found their spiritual home at St. Mark's in City Heights and St. Alban's in El Cajon. On Sunday, I visited St. Alban's where I confirmed two: Baldwin, "a son from afar, and Mu Nee, "a daughter from the ends of the earth."

I am proud of St. Alban's, St. Mark's, and the refugee network for their ministry of hospitality. It is what we are called by Christ to do: welcome the stranger and the outcast.

Refugee Network Website: http://www.sudaneserefugees.com/

Thanks George!

2009-06-19T16:36:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, I was with the people of St. John's Episcopal Church in Chula Vista as they bid farewell to their rector of fourteen year, the Rev. George Keith. Father Keith is one of those great priests who is a great pastor and preacher. He has irrepressible energy and a hearty, frequent laugh.

The church was packed with those who love George and have been touched by his ministry. I know that he will be missed but he has built a strong foundation for his successor to build upon. I pray that George and his wife, Joan, will come to know this season of retirement as a time of new beginnings. May God bless them. Well done!

Making Something New Through the Spirit

2009-05-30T16:27:00.000-07:00

Pentecost Eve

One of the great privileges of my vocation as bishop is to ordain gifted men and women to the sacred order of deacons and to the sacred order of priests. Last night, I was in Albuquerque to ordain Patricia Riggins as transitional deacon. Patricia entered our diocesan ordination process at the request of the then Bishop of the Rio Grande, Jeffery Steenson. After three years study at the Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, Texas, she was graduated earlier this month.

Fittingly, her ordination was held at St. Michael and All Angels in Albuquerque where she first discerned her call to ordained ministry. As I prayed, "Therefore, Father, through Jesus Christ your Son, giver your Holy Spirit to Patricia; fill her with grace and power, and make her a deacon in your Church," I felt the awesome power of the moment. God was making something new

Deacons are supposed to "serve all people, particularly the poor, the weak, the sick, and the lonely." Goodness knows we need deacons. Indeed, deacons are to be icons of the servant ministry that is the responsibility of every follower of Jesus Christ. And so, as the Holy Spirit descends upon the church tomorrow on Pentecost, I pray that we will feel the awesome power of that moment. For God will be making something new. With power and might, each of us can serve all people, particularly the poor, the weak, the sick, and the lonely.

It's Great to a Bishop at Bishop's

2009-05-22T10:26:00.000-07:00

It was my great privilege to give the Baccalaureate Address to the Class of 2009 at The Bishop's School. This annual occurrence was particularly poignant as it coincides with the retirement of Michael Teitelman, who has serviced as headmaster since 1983, and the school's Centennial.

In my address, I urged the graduates to cherish and imbue their lives with the values of the school: excellence, integrity, and compassion. I found myself wondering how these gifted men and women will contribute to our world. They have been transformed by an elegant education and molded by a gospel-centered community.

Please offer your prayers of thanksgiving for this class, Michael Teitelman, and one hundred years of ministry at The Bishop's School.

The Bishop's School Website: http://www.bishops.com

Reaching Across the Border

2009-05-13T07:37:00.000-07:00

St. James-by-the-Sea in La Jolla has reached a helping hand across the border. As a congregation that is passionate about serving, the community has for some time been concerned about housing and our neighbors in Tijuana. They also make substantial contributions to Dorcas House, a Tijuana foster home for children whose parents are in prison.

A couple of weeks ago they sent a team to work with the La Jolla based Icology Group which focuses on building ecologically sound housing. For more information, contact the Rev. Eleanor Ellsworth at St. James-by-the-Sea: e.ellsworth@sjbts.org. Well done good and faithful servants!

Raising the Bar

2009-05-09T15:47:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine likes to say that Jesus' first miracle kept the bar open late at a wedding.

It's an interesting take on the wedding at Cana, focusing a bit much on the partying rather than on the fact that it was a celebration of the hard work of building a family and a community. If my friend weren't such a hard worker, I could dismiss her comment as a joke. But she's a really hard worker. And she's fun. We forget how much gets done when we combine these qualities.

That's just what Episcopal Community Services is doing Wednesday, May 13th at their fundraiser, "Water to Wine: Making Miracles at ECS." With their support of battered women, the homeless, and disadvantaged children, ECS takes on some of the hardest work in our community. But this week, we'll celebrate that hard work. You can learn more about the event here: http://www.ecscalifornia.org/events/events.html

And one of our supporters will stage a minor miracle of his own. Craig Justice, a parishioner from Grace San Marcos and owner of Blue Merle Vineyards, will help us keep the bar open a little longer by giving a bottle of his best wine, signed with Bluey's paw print, no less, to anyone who donates $1,000 or more to ECS before May 14th. Craig may not be keeping the bar open, but he certainly is raising the bar!

If you can't come to the party, you can still be part of the celebration. Just go to http://www.ecscalifornia.org/howtohelp/waysofgiving.html to make your gift. Then send an email to Alyssa Osian at aosian@ecscalifornia.org with your name, address, and phone number. Those served by ECS, Craig, Bluey, and I will thank you.

Sydney the Kidney

2009-05-08T15:28:00.000-07:00

Dame Julian of Norwich

I don't know a lot of folks who name their organs. In fact, this is really a first as far as I know. Sydney the Kidney is not some character on Sesame. Sydney is a gift of life selflessly given from one person to another.

Karny Stefan, who serves with me on the Episcopal Community Services Board, received an email broadcast from a friend whose husband was in need of a kidney. They email asked people to be tested for a match. Karny felt called by God to respond positively. She was a perfect match for Jeff.

Two weeks ago, Sydney "relocated," Karny's terminology, from Karny to Jeff. Jeff's transformation has been remarkable, and Karny has taught us all what it means to be truly good and giving.

Good Shepherds

2009-05-01T10:36:00.000-07:00

Sts. Philip and James

Sunday is often referred to as Good Shepherd Sunday. For one who practices the art of shepherding in the name of Jesus, there is a particular power found in the readings of the day, particularly the Gospel reading from John: "So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father."

Of late we have been doing a particularly good job of not being one. No one gets a pass when it comes to bearing a degree of responsibility for this. Perhaps, the words of New Testament scholar Gerald Sloyan should give us something to ponder: "The game of picking one’s “thieves and robbers, “one’s other sheep not of this fold,” is an old one…. All Christians worthy of the name must have the minimum conviction that their church or congregation is fully allied with Jesus in his work of bringing salvation to the world. They must decide whether they treasure him as a principle of unity or a principle of division."

Now there is a novel idea: Jesus in his work of bringing salvation as a principle of unity!

Hands across the Border

2009-04-28T11:18:00.000-07:00

With so much need in the world it can be hard to know where to start. So the Women of St. James and the Women of St. Bartholomew’s decided to start right next door by making the world a little warmer and a little brighter for the 40 foster children of Dorcas House in Tijuana. Using funds raised from the Golden Elephant Sale at St. James and the Thrift Shop at St. Bart’s, these two groups helped with dormitory renovations at Dorcas House by funding all new, washable bedding. This was no small gift, as the dormitories are not heated, and the children had previously used woolen blankets, which are traditional to Mexico, but difficult and expensive to launder.

And the gift grew. The staff at Dorcas House was so frugal with the donated funds that they had enough left over to buy paint and stencils to coordinate with the new bedding. The children used part of spring break to help repaint the dorms. For many of them, this was the first opportunity to make a contribution to a place of their own.

I’m proud of the many churches and individuals that support these children. When our Cathedral took over operations of Dorcas House in 2006, they had many questions they couldn’t answer at the time. But one answer they knew for sure, that the only foster home in Tijuana that would accept the children of prisoners should not be allowed to close. Almost immediately, the rest of you agreed. Nearly a third of our churches now support the least of these, our young neighbors, and on their behalf, I say, “Muchas gracias.”

You can learn more about Dorcas House by visiting their website: http://www.dorcashousefriends.org/

Garden of Grace

2009-04-25T08:22:00.000-07:00

St. Mark, Evangelist

Gardens have great theological importance in Holy Scripture. There was, of course, the Garden of Eden, idyllic but the scene of human disobedience. There was the Garden of Gethsemane, a place of prayer and betrayal. There was the garden of Jesus' tomb, a place of the dead that becomes the place where the seed of resurrection breaks forth.

So, it seems wonderfully apropos that St. Mary's-in-the-Valley, Ramona should be planting a garden in Eastertide. But this is not just any garden. Their garden is for the community, so that those who do not have space to plant their own crops for food can do so. It is all at once, sharing the good news, community building and outreach. Indeed, it is also about spiritual care. It connects the people of St. Mary's and those for the wider community that plant there a place to connect with God's creation and be fed. I suspect that through the gifts of the Holy Spirit many may just meet Jesus in this garden.

Article from the Ramona Journal: http://www.ramonajournal.com/default.asp?sourceid=&smenu=88&twindow=Default&mad=No&sdetail=1130&wpage=1&skeyword=&sidate=&ccat=&ccatm=&restate=&restatus=&reoption=&retype=&repmin=&repmax=&rebed=&rebath=&subname=&pform=&sc=2828&hn=ramonajournal&he=.com

A Great Day in Hemet

2009-04-20T18:08:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, I visited the Church of the Good Shepherd in Hemet. It was a great day with a baptism, several confirmations and receptions. The Second Sunday in Easter is usually called low Sunday, but not in Hemet.

The Rev. Hugh Tutor-Foley is serving as interim rector and doing a great job of transitional ministry. Not only are they moving through the calling process quite welll, but Sunday worship attendance has grown significantly over the last several months. In addition, they have started a new youth ministry and a pastoral care ministry giving prayer shawls and quilts to those in need of prayers and care.

Great work, Hugh! Also, kudos to the senior warden, Butch Glosson, and the rest of the Vestry.

Forming Leaders

2009-04-17T17:50:00.001-07:00

Friday in Easter Week

I came up to Berkley today to spend time with two of our seminarians at Church Divinity School of the Pacific. Andy Shamel is a middler from Trinity, Escondido and Ken Simons is completing his year of Anglican Studies (He already has earned an M.Div. from Fuller).

I always remember with fondness visits from my bishop when I was in seminary. It was a time when we grew closer together, when I learned more about the church from, and we always had a nice meal together. So, I made sure that Andy and Ken were well fed at local Indian restuarant of their choosing. I also hope they felt well loved which they are. (They are pictured below, Ken on the left; Andy on the right)

Ken and Andy are a great gift to our diocese and the church. They are faithful followers of Jesus. They are full of passion, energy, and creativity. Please hold them in your prayers as they are formed to be priests in our church. May God continue to bless them.

Easter Giving

2009-04-15T07:42:00.000-07:00

Wednesday in Easter Week

Grace Episcopal Church in San Marcos had a wonderful way to give at Easter. As with most churches, Grace has the tradition of decorating their church with Easter lilies for this holiest of days. This year they did something different. Rather they have taken the funds usually raised for this purpose and given them to a program for homeless teenagers. Instead of the traditional lilies, the children of the congregation decorated cardboard lilies as replacements. As Grace's rector David Marshall told the North County Times, "This is about compassion and caring and empathy. We count them as neighbors," Way to go, David! What to go, Grace Episcopal Church!

When the Rev. Michael Carr and the people at All Saints Episcopal Church in Vista heard about this grace, they sent two of their Easter lilies from their altar to Grace's. Now that is what I call sharing the Easter witness. Well Done!

North County Times article about Grace:

http://nctimes.com/articles/2009/04/10/news/sandiego/zfdc092951eb59854882575930075672a.txt

Being Creative

2009-04-14T06:07:00.000-07:00

Tuesday in Easter Week

One of the great things about our diocese is our clergy, who are creative and energetic in the ways that they offer gospel witness and engage their community. In Holy Week and Easter, there were some great examples, but two stand out.

At Trinity in Escondido, the Rev. Meg Decker and her congregation hold "Drama Week," which is essentially Spring Break Vacation Bible School. The program meets a child care need in the community and provides Christian Education for young people not involved in church. By the way, Trinity has a wonderful children's choir that is emerging. If you want to know more about what is happening at Trinity, you can contact Meg at rector@trinityescondido.org. The parish website is http://www.trinityescondido.org/.

The clergy at two of our neighboring congregations, Christ the King, Alpine, and St. Alban's, El Cajon, joined together to offer a new twist on the Great Vigil of Easter. The Rev. Cathey Dowdle at Christ the King and the Rev. Rebecca Dinovo at St. Alban's joined forces and held a joint service for the Vigil. But here is the twist: rather than the Vigil readings, the stories of salvation were dramatized. For example, Isaiah was dressed as a modern day chef delivering the words as though inviting those gathered to a banquet." To learn more, contact Cathey at Cathey.Dowdle@MIROtechnologies.com or Rebecca at motherrebecca@stalbanschurch.info.

Christ is Risen!

2009-04-13T17:40:00.000-07:00

Monday in Easter Week

I begin this new enterprise, blogging as we move into Eastertide. It seems a fitting time to begin a new thing. Indeed, much of my last few days have been about new things.

At the Easter Vigil, I was privileged to baptise two new followers of Jesus as well as confirm, received, and reaffirm many others. It was a glorious night.

Then on Easter morning, I went to Fallbrook to celebrate and preach at St. John's Episcopal Church. This was the first service in the church since a dissident group claimed the property in July of 2007. It was necessary for the congregation to take legal action which ended successfully last month. It was an emotional and joyful resurrection moment. What made it an even more extraordinary day was that people from half of the congregations of the diocese came to rejoice with the people of St. John's, Fallbrook. The photograph above is taken of the congregation. My continuing prayer is that those who have left will begin to see that we are all one church and that we will be able to bring the Body of Christ together. That seems like resurrection work.

Articles about St. John's Episcopal Church, Fallbrook:

North County Times:

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2009/04/12/news/inland/fallbrook/z801785f4ff55410488257582007c73fc.txt

San Diego Union Tribune:

http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/apr/13/1m13easter2379-many-messages-easter/?zIndex=81585